Patrick Comerford
If you go down to the woods today
You’re sure of a big surprise
If you go down to the woods today
You’d better go in disguise.
For every bear that ever there was
Will gather there for certain,
Because today’s the day
The Teddy Bears have their picnic.
Picnic time for Teddy Bears
The little Teddy Bears
Are having a lovely time today
Watch them, catch them unawares
And see them picnic on their holiday.
See them gaily gad about
They love to play and shout;
They never have any cares;
At six o’clock their Mummies and Daddies,
Will take them home to bed,
Because they’re tired little Teddy Bears.
If you go down to the woods today
You’d better not go alone
It’s lovely down in the woods today
But safer to stay at home.
For every bear that ever there was
Will gather there for certain,
Because today’s the day
The Teddy Bears have their picnic.
This is bluebell time, and one recent afternoon we went to Linford Wood to see the carpet of bluebells … and we were also in for a surprise along the Arts Trail when we came across sculptures, including the Teddy Bear.
Linford Wood is Milton Keynes’ very own 100 acre wood, criss-crossed with paths and trails that offer a window on its rich wildlife. There the carpets of bluebells are an indication that this is an ancient woodland, and the wood is a surviving fragment of the wildwood that covered most of Britain after the last Ice Age.
As villages grew up in the area, the wood became a vital source of raw materials for building and heating homes and feeding livestock. By the Middle Ages, the wood was part of the estate owned by the Lords of Linford Manor.
World War I brought more change as most of Linford’s ancient trees were felled for the war effort. The woodland fell into disrepair until modern times, when active management has returned it to life. A vigorous planting and woodland management programme has seen native species such as oak, ash, field maple, hawthorn, blackthorn, hazel and dogwood thrive again, providing habitats for a wide range of small mammals, birds and insect life.
Modern woodland management owes much to the use of coppicing in the past. Some trees are cut back hard to encourage new shoots, which in their time were used as poles and for the wattle and daub houses. Today, coppicing keeps growth healthy and allows light into the forest floor where plants can thrive.
Waymarker posts at the entrances and path junctions guide visitors around Linford Wood. The North Wood walk is marked in blue, is around 1.5 km long and takes about 25 minutes at a leisurely pace. The South Wood walk is marked in yellow, is about 1.2 km long and takes about 20 minutes. Both routes are on hard and mainly level surfaces, with short diversions along the Orchid and Art trails.
As we explored Linford Wood in the late afternoon, we looked out for the series of intriguing wood carvings along the Art Trail, nestling beneath the trees and the shrubs. As well as woodland creatures and spirits, some well-known storybook characters emerge from tree stumps alongside the paths.
Along the Orchid Trail, early-purple orchid, greater butterfly orchid, herb paris and broad leaved helleborine are some of the flowers to look out for in spring and early summer.
Linford Wood is owned and managed by the Parks Trust, a self-financing charity dedicated to caring for over 4,500 acres of parks and landscapes in Milton Keynes. It provides a network of green spaces across the city, works with schools and volunteers and organises over 200 events each year that make Milton Keynes a vibrant and colourful place to live, work and visit.
After our walk in Linford Wood, instead of looking for the Teddy Bears’ picnic, we walked into Milton Keynes and had dinner in Cosy Club in Silbury Arcade, promising to return again to explore the trees, the walks and trails, the flowers and the sculptures.
Download a copy of the trails at the website: www.theparkstrust.com
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