13 Apr 2024: Bramfield and the bluebells

This walk was a circular route around Bramfield. From the recreation ground car park, the route went S to Tewinbury Farm, NW to Digswell, SE to Burnham Green, E to Bramfield via Bramfield Woods.

The usual stats:

Event led by Martin T.
Attendance 11 people.
Distance: 9.75 miles (15.7 km).
Altitude per GPS: low 364ft (111m), high 603ft (184m), climb 337ft (103m), descent 305ft (93m).
Time: start 11:00, end 15:47 (sunset 19:54), lunch 31 minutes, other breaks included in walk-time.
Speed: moving arithmetic average 2.285 mph (3.68 kph).
Terrain: path, pavement, field, woodland track on footpath, bridleway, byway, and highway.
Weather: perfect for walking, hazy sun, excellent visibility at ground level, temperate range between 19°C and 21°C, easterly wind 10-16mph (16-25 kph) with mild wind-chill, felt like 17°C and 19°C.
Number of sewage works: 1.
Number of churches: 1.
Number of golf courses: 0.

The major feature of this walk was thick carpets of bluebells that covered a number of the woodlands on the route, accentuated by glorious sunshine.

Bluebells typically hit their maximum in the last week of April and first week of May. This year, likely because of mild temperatures since February and lots of rainfall, spring has landed early. Today, the bluebells look to have nearly hit their maximum, perhaps only one week to go before absolue maximum.

The views across the Mimram valley upper edges, and the countryside rolling towards the edges, were clear. The patchwork of fresh green, bright yellow and the occasional still-brown fields were typical of spring.

The River Mimram was at an elevated level and flowed at a fast speed. The water was crystal clear, in spite of being a chalk stream (it would normally carry a lot of chalk sediment, thus look slightly milky), reflecting the high volumes of rainfall earlier in the year. We crossed the river at two points, the second point at which features holiday rental properties run by the Tewinbury estate. This was a classic picturesque setting, with manicured gardens on the riverside. The flow of the river also offered an interesting visual example of complex flow dynamics.

Flora and fauna were out in full, many of which included:

animals included skylarks, jackdaws, crows, sheep, horses, dogs, alpacas, great tits, blue tits, goldfinches, pigeons, magpies, pied wagtails, wren, swans, mallards, red kites, goats, cows, squirrels, house sparrows, ladybirds, bumble bees, brimstone butterflies, beeflies, crane flies, snails, spiders.
flowers included bluebells, red dead nettle, white dead nettle, lesser celenendine, chickweed, mouse ear, ground ivy, stichtwort, wood anemones, dogs mercury, honesty, green alcanets, herb roberts, cowslips, daisies, speedwells, forget me nots, garlic mustards, yellow archangels, comfrey, violets, blackthorns, periwinlkes, pendulous sedges, cherries, daffodils, gorse, brooms, cranesbills.
growth before flowers included stinging nettle, yarrow, groundsel, pineapple mayweed, silverweed.

The group shot had Marden Hill House (grade II* listed) in the background. The current building dates from ~1789 and includes extensions designed by John Soane, surveyor of the Bank of England, on commission of the then owner, Charles Thornton, then governor of the Bank of England. Today, the property is divided into flats, on a share-of-freehold basis (wikipedia). Immediately behind the group is a ha-ha wall, sunk into the landscape, holding up the garden to the house. There are other listed buildings in this part of the estate.

By the Marden Hill House was a patch of greenery which some in the group identitied as Miners’ Lettuce, originally from California, an edible plant used as salad or tea, providing a solution to scurvy. In English-English, this is Springbeauty, claytonia perfoliat.

After a brief pause at the Tewinbury Farm kiosk to buy coffees, the route continued to Harmer Green, where we had lunch. On the approach to lunch, we saw a few more properties that qualified as “chocolate box properties”, including one particular example with a thatched roof.

Harmergreen Wood is a point of interest for engineers. The wood sits alongside a steep elevation, the northern side of the Mimram Valley at Digswell. At the south, the East Coast Main Line railway needs a tall viaduct; at the north, the railway needs a long tunnel through the earth. The earth is hard, so the engineers needed to sacrifice two of the four railway lines, resulting in a bottleneck for the East Coast Main Line. Atop the earth are two ventilation shafts, which enable air pressure forced through the tunnels by the trains to escape and ingest (both directions). This ensures adverse air pressure and adverse vacuum is counter-balanced, reducing the risks of inhibiting trains (to the extent they could de-rail two fast trains entering the tunnel at the same time) or damaging the sides of the tunnel (leading to structural collapse). The sound of the air passing through the ventilation shafts is similar to the fizma (sound of wind in trees): the first hiss is air pushed out of the shaft by the train; a pause as the train passes underneath the shaft’s flue; a second hiss is air being sucked back into the tunnel by the past train.

At Burnham Green, some party was taking place at the Coltsfoot Country Retreat (which seems to specialise in weddings). It was playing ABBA’s Lay All Your Love On Me on its disco thing. This resulted in some of our group singing.

The last stage of the route was a march of 2 miles in a straight line through Bramfield Woods, part of the Woodhall Estate, towards Bramfield.

The optional pub stop was at the Grandison, Bramfield, at which 9 members attended. At this pub stop, the group engaged in various plans, plots and schemes relating to Herts GOC programme for the remainder of 2024 and the start of 2025. The ideas included:

a return by Herts GOC to its habit of the annual Bah Humbug Anti-Xmas Lunch. The Grandison intends to run its normal food service in Jan2025 (lunch to 1445; dinner from 1730).
planning for a series of “New Members” socials, roaming around Herts, the initial pilot event likely to take place in Hitchin.
ideas for more art-based events, not long walks, including Hertford Museum and the Henry Moore Foundation.
ideas for orienteering training events.
expansion of Herts GOC into club news, for which GOC has no set criteria about qualifying content.

Churches: