Continuing along The Long Walk past the granite cider press, to the right is the entrance to The Birch wood, notable, as its name suggests for its groupings of unusual forms of Betula. Look out for the warm orange coloured stems of the hybrid Betula ‘Conygnham’. With an under-canopy of Camellia, Rhododendron and deciduous azaleas flowering from April onwards, the ground plays host to carpets of woodlanders and bulbs with a decided emphasis on erythroniums – for which the garden is famous. Do take time to explore the many paths in this area bearing in mind the direction you have come from (they wind about somewhat)!

Back on the main route you approach the group of standing stones, known as The Magic Circle. Far from being the ancient ritualistic site it first appears it was actually constructed in 1994 from locally sourced granites as a focal point to one of the gardens main vistas. Here also is a fine grove of the Golden Larch, Pseudolarix amabilis.

The view back towards the house is accentuated by a striking groups of  the white multi-stemmed Betula ermanii ‘Grayswood Hill.’ The area immediately beneath these is notable in the autumn for the colony of Fly Agaric toad-stools which spring up among the moss and fallen leaves.

The Acer Glade itself, slopes away to the North with a fine vista towards the arched bridge, and indeed contains an excellent collection of different forms of Japanese Maple, Acer palmatum. These range from filigree-leaved ‘Kinshii’ to the lower mounding ‘Inaba-shidare’, but all assume  dazzling shades from gold through to orange and crimson in October – colourful once more as the leaves emerge in spring. At ground level, this area also comes to life in late February with tens of thousands of crocus, followed later by unusual forms of our native Wood Anemone, with pink, blue, white and button-double flowers, also naturalised in the grass.

Towards the bottom of The Acer Glade passing the meadow, the path veers around to the right following a gentle incline up The Rhododendron Walk, flanked on both sides many species and hybrids from this amazing genus, at their best in April and May.

Towering above this section of the garden is an avenue of enormous Lime Trees providing a link to the last vicar of Buckland Monachorum, Amos Crymes who lived in the original vicarage in the walled garden. Over 21 years from 1751 his wife Elizabeth, poor lady, bore 15 children and a Lime is said to have been planted for each of them who survived infancy. Eight magnificent Limes are still with us today.

Running off to the left immediately underneath the Limes a path curves its way in the same general direction as The Rhododendron Walk through grass densely populated with bluebells and erythroniums and varied plantings of startling blue Hydrangea, flowering from July onwards.

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