Captain's Log

50 Years Later

In the early 1970s my family used to spend a lot of time at Clumber Park. Every Sunday we would jump into the car and my Dad would drive southwards to this Nottinghamshire forest parkland. We had a 10 foot long caravan in those days and we’d pitch up at a spot just off Lime Tree Avenue. And that was it for the day. I’d spend my time climbing trees or playing football. My dad would invariably take us for a walk in the forest at some stage of the day. In the evening we’d pack up and head back home listening to the Top 20 on the radio. Those were happy days. Later on, as a teenager, I cycled to Clumber Park on a number of occasions. A long stretch of the route was along the A1 and the thought of cycling along that road now fills me with horror.  For a place that was formative to my early life, it seems odd that I’d never revisited the place as an adult. After 50 year’s absence, today I intended to remedy the situation and go in search of the place where we used to pitch our caravan in the 1970s. 

My walk would start at the location of the old House (no longer existing). Clumber Park has a 2 mile long lake and my intention was to walk around the edge of it before heading off to Lime Tree Avenue. I’d then follow a number of trails through Clumber Park’s woodland, back to the carpark.     

The House

Clumber Park is managed by the National Trust and so I was able to use my membership card at the toll barrier. Their website had said that the Lime Tree Avenue access was closed and so I used an entrance point on the western side of the park. It didn’t take long to reach the main Visitors carpark and I was soon kitted up and setting off on my walk. It was a bit of a grey start, but it was warm enough. The weather forecast said that the sun would make an appearance later in the day. 

Clumber Park was once the country estate of the Dukes of Newcastle and there used to be a massive house next to the lake.  A fire in 1879 gutted 20 of the 105 rooms and destroyed the central core of the house leaving the wings standing around a hollow shell.  They rebuilt the place, but neglected to fit smoke alarms, since there was another fire in 1912 which ravaged the upper two floors. Times had moved on since the original house was conceived and the 9th Duke decided that he’d rather spend the money on himself, rather than an expensive fire-prone house. In 1938 the demolition was contracted out and now we only have photographs to show us what an impressive House used to exist. Well actually, there is also a large model of the place in one of the outbuildings, but more of that later. 

Although the house has gone, the Chapel of St Mary the Virgin still exists. It is a stunning building with a tall stone spire. There is a Gray and Davison organ inside which has 2,180 pipes and 3 keyboards, which would be a fine musical instrument to play if you had 3 hands. The chapel didn’t open until 10:00 and so I made a mental note to visit it on my way back. I forgot of course and so the 2,180 piped organ will have to wait for another day. 

The Lake

The lake was in front of the house and chapel. Although to be totally correct, there hadn't been one there originally. The 2nd Duke created a dam on the River Poulter and excavated the river bed, although I’m sure he had a few other workers to help him. Even so, it took 15 years to create the 87 acre, 2 mile long lake. I wandered across from the chapel to the lake side. There were plenty of ducks, swans and geese making use of the water. I’d decided to go anticlockwise around the lake and so I set off towards its western end. 

I came across The Grotto which was next to the lake and tucked away in the trees. The place had been fenced off and was overgrown with vegetation. There was an information board though that provided some interesting background. In 1931, the grotto was used  to house a pump that provided water to the residents of the estate. The pump was driven by the difference in water levels between the top and bottom lakes (about 1 metre). The machinery is still in place and at times of power failure the pump can still be used to supply the park with water.      

10 minutes walking brought me to the pretty Ornamental stone bridge that was built between 1763 and 1770. It is blocked off to traffic now, but I distinctly remember going across it in my dad’s car in the 1970s, although my dad would have been driving it in those days. Later research revealed that it was closed due to an act of vandalism carried out by members of the Intelligentsia on the night of March 3rd 2018 when they ploughed a stolen car into its ornamental pillars, smashing the monument to bits. They then burnt out the car to complete the job.  The good news is that the National Trust has restored the bridge to its original glory. I, for one, hope that they don’t open the bridge to traffic again.

I started following the trail on the south side of the lake. I soon came across the point where the water in the top lake drops down to the lower lake. Due to islands in the middle of the lake, I couldn’t see any mechanism on the other side that would have driven the pump in the Grotto. The trail alongside the lake had stunning views across the water to the chapel and buildings.  A little further along, I came across the Doric temple. It was built around 1765 and would be a handy shelter if it was raining. 

The trees along the lakeside prevented views across the lake, but the trail was pleasant enough. Given the large number of people I saw, the ‘lake circuit’ must be the most popular walk in Clumber Park. I reached the eastern end of the lake, where there was a dog-leg. The River Poulter headed off eastwards and the lake turned northwestwards. I came across a National Trust snack bar and I could hear the rattling of cups and voices inside. I wondered whether to wait around for it to open, but decided to press on. A few fishermen were trying their luck along this stretch of the lake. The ‘lake circuit’ path diverted across a bridge before reaching the very end of the lake. I avoided that and instead followed a sketchy path that continued following the lakeside. This led to an unbarbed fence at the end of the lake which I easily hopped over. I’d come back to the lake towards the end of my walk, but for now I headed off in search of Lime Tree Avenue. 

Lime Tree Avenue

You could spend an enjoyable day in Clumber Park just wandering along random trails. Make sure to take a gps with you though since the terrain is flat, there is lots of vegetation and it is very easy to become disorientated. By a combination of trails and roads, I made my way to Lime Tree Avenue and started walking along it towards its eastern exit from the park. The road had been coned off and judging by the marks on the tarmac, it looked like they were going to carry out resurfacing work. The sides of the road had wooden stakes driven in every few metres to prevent cars parking alongside the road. Apparently, the weight of the cars had damaged the roots of some of the Lime trees. The avenue is an amazing sight and stretches for 2 miles, making it the longest of its kind in Europe. The avenue was created in 1838 by the 4th Duke and consists of 1296 Lime trees. There is something about the light coloured leaves of Lime trees that I find appealing. 

Lime Tree Avenue was used by the military during WII to store munitions. Hundreds of corrugated iron stores were created containing up to 400 cubic feet of shells. Nissan huts were built around the park, including along Lime Tree Avenue, to accommodate the army personnel. It took many years to remove all the ammunition and it wasn’t until 1955 before the military left. 

I walked along the avenue looking for any spot that might resemble where we used to set up camp with our caravan in the 1970s. I remembered it being a distance from the road and enclosed by trees. Much of the area looked overgrown by vegetation and by the time I was about a quarter of a mile from the park’s exit point, I decided to turn back. It was on the return trip that I spotted what might be an open area through the trees on my right and started following a vague track towards it. I stepped across a log that had at one time been positioned to prevent vehicular access and I felt I was getting closer. A few seconds later, I entered a small grassy area and memories of those happy days over 50 years ago came flooding back. I could even visualise where our 10 foot caravan used to be pitched. The grass was a lot longer today, but this was definitely the place. I looked around at the surrounding trees. I’d climbed some of those back in the day. 50 years felt like a long time. 

Woodland Walking

I followed woodland trails westwards. I was well away from the lake now and saw only a handful of people. At one point I came across a cycle route sign that had Inverness (786 m) pointing one way and Dover (504 m) pointing the other. The figures did seem a bit suspicious to me. I was pretty sure that metres as a unit couldn’t be correct and the figures looked far too big for miles. In fact they looked too large using kilometres as well. I had to Google it and found that Clumber Park to Dover is 415 km and Clumber Park to Inverness is 750 km. That wasn’t too far off, I guess. Maybe the figures were based on cycle routes, rather than roads. 

I joined Robin Hood Way for a couple of hundred metres and then followed  the trail of Clumber Park’s ‘The Second World War Walk’. I didn’t find any markers or information boards to indicate I was on these trails. There was no evidence of previous military activity, nor even a sighting of Robin Hood. 

The sun was out now and it was pleasant walking in the shade of the trees. I eventually found my way back to civilisation, and by that I mean the cricket pitch near the Visitors carpark, where I’d started earlier this morning. It would have been easier to shorten the walk, by diverting to the carpark directly, but I continued eastwards along a road, back towards the lake again.  I reached the lake where I’d left it earlier this morning. 

Pleasure And Walled Gardens

It was busy with walkers again. I joined them on the ‘lake circuit’ trail, enjoying views across the lake. The trail brought me to a wooded area with a sign declaring it to be the Pleasure Garden. This was a lovely 30 acre woodland garden that featured some mature trees and a mix of vegetation from around the world. I passed a couple of chalkboards that the National Trust had set up to say people had been stealing the plants and  to let them know if you saw any suspicious activity. It makes you wonder. 

St Mary’s chapel looked more cheerful now that the sun was out. I had intended to visit the café for a coffee, but it looked packed out and I couldn’t be bothered. I did visit one of the outbuildings though where there was a model of how the estate used to look when the house was still in existence. It must have looked very impressive.   

On the way back to the carpark I called in at the Walled Kitchen Garden. This turned out to be quite a large area and was well worth a wander around. Some NT chalkboards inevitably said that some idiots had been stealing plants and to let them know…etc. There was still a greenhouse running along its northern side and I quickly reached my melting point temperature when I entered it. It was also a bit of a museum with rooms housing some of the garden tools from yesteryear.     

I made my way back to the carpark. After 50 years, it had been a successful return to Clumber Park. It was a lovely walk around the lake and I'd managed to find our old caravan spot off Lime Tree Avenue. There was definitely more scope to come back and explore more of the surrounding woodland. I wouldn’t mind returning to have a tinker on the ivories of the 2,180 pipe, 3 keyboard, Gray and Davison organ too.