Tag Archives: cherry laurel

Working Party update – Hot stuff in the woods!

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It was one of the hottest days of the year when we met in July for volunteer work in Penpole Woods. Not only was it hot, but the chosen location was distant from all of the usual meeting points. The area, deep in Penpole Wood, was at the bottom of the steps we rebuilt about ten years ago. Until last month they deposited the visitor into a thicket of cherry laurel.

Animated transition showing the view from the bottom of the Penpole Wood steps. 

Already, someone had been trying to keep the paths there open, taking out branches overhanging the path, but our ambitions were somewhat greater. Considering the forecast, we had a good turnout, and thank you to all our regulars who made it. We started with the knowledge we’d cut things short to avoid the worst of the heat, but the shady area on the north-facing slope gave us some respite from the worst of it.

The impact of work turned out to be more incredible than expected. A relatively dense cherry laurel gave way quickly, revealing a number of handsome mature trees that hadn’t really been noticeable at the start of work; If we’d have spotted them earlier, we might have been a bit more careful over the location of spoil piles and their visibility.

Animated transition showing the view eastwards along the middle path. 

By the end of the day, the section of the middle path we worked on was unrecognisable. Now, coming off the end of the  steps, the scene opens out into a light clearing with a backdrop of fine trees. The route up from Lawrence Weston has been cleared of a lot of obstacles and joins the middle path at a junction at the stone steps. Hopefully the path remains traceable through the stone rubble.

We had planned to return here this month to continue work, but an urgent matter has cropped up at the Lilypond. September will be Heritage Open Day, and October is usually the Big Bulb Plant, so continuing the work may take longer than planned.   

Looking west along the middle path before and after work clearing cherry laurel
The three stone steps between the middle path and main steps appear from beneath the cherry laurel.

Yet MORE missed Laurels get a trim

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Our gradual passage back through Penpole Wood continued last month, retracing our steps with removing cherry laurel. Having built-up momentum on this job since April we’ve continued westwards through the woodland, tracking along the top edge of the former quarry.

Animated image showing the same area before and after work. This view looks back towards Kings Weston house, with the main path just out of sight behind the trees on the right. 

The sunnier Summer months are best spent labouring in the relative shade, the heat usually tiring our team of volunteers quicker. Despite the warm conditions, we tackled a large portion of the laurel that had regrown to considerable height in some areas. Over the last eight or nine years, the laurel had bushed-out with some areas with very dense coverage.

Looking south, upslope from the edge of the historic quarry. Many of the liberated saplings can be identified. 

The are was planted with saplings following our original work, and we’re glad to say that there were many left, albeit somewhat overshadowed by their more established and overpowering neighbours. This work will help protect the progress we made and allow these saplings to bring greater biodiversity into this part of the woods.

The flat area adjacent to the main path through Penpole Woods was less choked than the top of the quarry. The path can be seen passing in the background after volunteers removed the invasive laurel. 

Missed laurels get a trim

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As working parties draw to a close on a Saturday afternoon, sometimes we’ve not managed to complete what we might have hoped; bits get left behind as we move on to other parts of the estate. Last month’s volunteer work tackled three such areas at the very heart of the parkland close to The Circle.

We’ve had several working parties along the north edge of the ancient lime Avenue, mainly around 2016-17. These focussed on natural spacing and the chore of removing over-mature laurels. The areas left included some dense and challenging laurels, not reason for us to have neglected them the first time, but enough to keep us occupied for a full working party this time around.

With the cherry laurel removed, the woodland opens out onto the ancient lime avenue beyond. 

One area was just to the north of the ancient Lime Avenue, and work here gave us the added opportunity to reinforce the line of the path through trimming snowberry bushes. The second area included a concrete base to a WWII Nissen hut, one that was joined formerly by many others hidden in the trees. The final area bordered the Quarry garden on its eastern end and a forest of mock orange bushes, part of historic planting, to the east. An added challenge in the last area was tidying a fallen tree that had blocked one of the well used paths in this area.

The central of three locations tackled last month, directly on the main path into the woods. The WWII base appears from below the invasive cherry laurel. 

Split into three adjacent groups, a good turnout of volunteers saw work progress quickly from east to west. We usually lose people in the afternoons as they get tired or need to get onto other things but still managed to extend the area tackled westwards and begin trimming of laurel regrowth that has begun to regain a foothold above the quarry. By about 2pm we had achieved everything on our agenda and more!

It was interesting to uncover the base of the WWII Nissen Hut and its features, more of that later. The historic area of Mock Orange is now more visible, framed by the less invasive Portuguese laurels we’ve left in place. For the intrepid, there’s the opportunity to try and trace the line of the lost Victorian path that once ran through the back of this area, now freed from the choking embrace of cherry laurels.

The third location, close to the east end of the quarry garden, and looking up-slope towards the main path through the woods. 

Keeping up appearances near the Echo

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It’s always lovely to meet new volunteers, and we welcome those who turned up last month to lend a hand with keeping on top of the cherry laurel regrowth close to the Echo. It’s been eleven years since we began cutting this invasive shrub away in this area. Thanks to the Council following-through with poisoning of the stumps the growth has been seriously retarded, but eleven years is still a long time to go without any re-cutting.

Looking downhill towards Kings Weston house, an area first cleared in 2014. 

Some areas had started to become quite overgrown with laurel, and there was a need for care in cutting them out. Dozens of saplings, planted by KWAG not long after we cleared, survive and have begun to thrive. It was important that none were accidentally lopped off in the process!

The target was to clear everything between the Echo and the two ponds. Most of this was achieved, but we fell slightly short for want of volunteers to help in the afternoon. Nevertheless, only small areas immediately around the pond remain to be done this month.

Looking up the slope with The Echo revealed in the distance after laurel clearance work. 

One unforeseen bonus of our work has been the revealing of some of the native bulbs planted in the area as part of one of our early big Bulb Plants. Groups of Snowdrops and native daffodils were discovered cowering under the cherry laurel and bramble, hopefully now more able to survive.

Another task performed on the day was the pushing back of the cherry laurel margins alongside the boundary wall and road. We’re keen not to lose all of these and expose walkers to the traffic, but there was a good deal to cut that had begun to grow back across the path again. Unfortunately, we have an incomplete set of before-and-after photos, but we’re returning this weekend, so we’ll provide more of an update next month. 

The view looking back towards the house looking down the pleasure walk leading behind the woods from the Echo. 

Persevering  in Penpole Wood

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We’ve noted before that the summer months make working parties much harder, and last month was no exception. Despite a good turnout and a couple of welcome new faces we didn’t manage to finish off the area as planned. This was more to do with the amount of work left being more than we first judged. Nevertheless, the last few months have seen a significant erosion of the cherry laurel’s dominance in this area.  

The change in the  view east, back towards the house, between May and this month. 

It’s clear from historic maps of Penpole Wood where the problem stems. The area we’ve been tackling is just outside, to the east, of the historic boundary of Penpole Wood. Here the Southwell family sought to blend the landscaped parkland into the natural ancient woodland by planting specimen trees and between them fashionable laurel bushes. They were, it is believed, intended to create a continuous blanket of evergreens below the picturesquely scattered specimen trees. Some of those trees are likely to be those that still surround the area, but the cherry laurel has since grown wild, suffocating anything else in the area and even obscuring historic paths.

Diagram showing the 1772 estate survey with current features of the felling area annotated.   

The slope now looks bare and barren where we’ve passed through, a legacy of around 250 years of laurel suffocating the area. We intend to replant trees in this area this autumn, to better integrate it back into the native woodland. So, back again this month to try and finish this tricky area! Thank you to everyone who came out to help last month and we hope to see you all again this weekend. Perhaps we will finally get it finished…  

A big oak at the top of the slope remains as laurels retract over the last four months. 
The view up-slope from the middle path thorough Penpole Woods. 


Slow work on laurels in Penpole Wood

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Perhaps it was the forecast of bad weather, or the holidays, but we had a very low turn out in July for the working party. However regrettable, we were still able to make headway on our challenge of clearing cherry laurel from an area close to the historic Scouts chapel in Penpole Wood. We will need to return here again this coming week, to today as much as to complete the job.

The difference made between June and July, with the lime trees of the Scout’s Chapel appearing beyond. 

The work over the last couple of months has revealed another post quarry, later turned into part of the landscaped grounds of the house. As well as views through the woods to the tall lime trees around the Scout’s chapel, itself part of the Georgian landscaping, work has opened around a mature beech tree and yews. The last push in August should add another beech tree to this collection of veteran parkland trees and open the woodland floor for colonisation by native species.
 
Because of the small turnout, and the rain that eventually curtailed efforts in the afternoon, we were unable to property and safely tidy up the area, but we made sure that nothing was blocking any public areas around the quarry. Apologies for the unsightly mess, but we’ll make sure to clean it up this time around!

looking eastwards, along the slope, with the main path through the woods on the right.
The view in the opposite direction, in the direction of Penpole Point.