Walk 19 Isle of Wight Garlic Farm

This can hardly be called a walk, it was just a bus trip and a visit to the Garlic Farm, but what it lost in leg miles, it made up in stunning scenery. I picked up the Downs Breezer open topped bus from Sandown, following a brief stroll along the prom.

The bus heads inland across Brading Downs; though snapping from a moving bus isn't great, it gives an idea of the scenery.

 The bus drops you just at the end of a footpath leading to the Garlic Farm.

 A few metres along the path, the view opens across amazing fields of wild flowers, so I thought myself in Tuscany for a few moments, especially with the heat today.

 In the meadows were acres of daisies, cornflowers and yellow corn marigolds.

This is my favourite shot of the flowers...

 An avenue of flowers leads to a row of conifers...

 

 A handful of poppies added a dash of scarlet... 

 

 A display sign indicated that this is the scene that would have greeted our ancestors across the land before herbicides were introduced.

 An avenue of white daisies stretches ahead...

 Highland cattle graze in the fields...

On arrival at the farm itself, patches of garlic plants are laid out, well signposted and with sample bunches of each variety hanging from a cane.

 

 As I wandered among the garlic plants this butterfly settled on an allium flower.

 The farm buildings house an education centre, shop and cafe. 

 Today, there was an exhibition of birds of prey, though I kept my distance.

 

You could even take a ferret for a walk for a donation; I was sorely tempted, but wanted to wait until someone else could capture it in on film.

 The barn owl was lovely...in its cage!

Inside the Garlic Farm Shop are all varieties of garlic, including smoked and elephant garlic and all manner of garlic products: garlic beer, mayonnaise, chutney, jam and even beer...

Leaving the farm, you walk through aromatic conifer planting.

As a tractor passed by, it threw up dust, creating these rays of light...

More flowered meadows, this time a sea of Cultivated Flax appeared on the main track back to the road.

Leaving the garlic farm I hopped on the Downs Breezer again, stopping at Thompsons Nurseries for lunch and to pick up some sage I wanted to add to my herb garden. From there, I walked a couple of miles along Bathingbourne Lane (45mins) to bring me back onto the number 3 bus route at Sandford, but not without passing these smiley creatures at Bathingbourne Alpacas.

Walk 18 - Merstone to Arreton - 4.3 miles

The point of this walk was to photograph some poppies, as I had been told there was usually a good poppy field on the Merstone-Arreton road, just past the cemetery, by the junction with East Lane. But though I think I found the field, it had only a narrow strip of poppies, so either the field has been replanted or it's not a good year for them. I'll have to try somewhere else!

The walk began at Bohemia Corner, the junction with the Rookley Main Rd and Merstone Road. It is mostly a road walk and only the stretch between East Lane and Arreton is a busy road.

We walk along the lane with cornfields on the right hand side and views across to Stenbury Down.

 Rather a Provencal spot, I thought.

 These trees (Aspen?) were along the cycle path which crosses Merstone Lane.

In the fields I came across many of these Field Scabious, or Knautia arvensis. They are so called because they were traditionally used to treat scabies and other skin conditions as well as coughs and lung conditions.

Another medicinal plant along the way was this Hypericum growing in a front garden along Merstone Lane. Also known as St John's Wort, its many varieties have long been used by herbalists for the treatment of depression and anxiety.

Hebes attract butterflies but I didn't manage to catch any today.

I passed this ruined cottage and thought it suited a sepia treatment.

Just past this field, at the junction with East Lane, is the poppy field I was aiming for.

What I hadn't taken account of was the wind, it was difficult to catch them at a still moment.

A few yards further along the busy Downend Lane is the Arreton Craft Village, a collection of craft shops centred around the flower filled courtyard of the Dairyman's Daughter pub.

One cabin contains a collection of vintage slot machines....

and collections of old farm machinery and business signs...

Finally, one butterfly settled on this yellow begonia, a Small Tortoiseshell.

The Norman church, St George's Arreton is just next door.

I finished with an attempt to hit the footpath along St George's Down, but went wrong somewhere and just walked around a big field!

Walk Map Details

Walk Details
Distance: 4.3 miles
Time: 2 hours
Start: Bohemia Corner on Main Road Rookley
Finish: Arreton Barns
Refreshments and WC: Arreton Barns