Barry Jordan - © NT
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Follow the path on behind the Herbaceous Border, under the London Plane tree with its peeling bark, past an area planted with Anemone blanda and Daffodils until you reach a bronze statue called The Capitoline Fawn.
This statue stands at one end of the Dahlia Garden and at the start of the Victorian pathway, which was discovered when the winter walk was being developed.
The large cobbles were used to mark the original path and kept as a reminder of the past.
The point that the cobbles end is the start of the weird garden, with its contorted copper Beech trees, spares from the Copper Beech Circle, pruned to prevent them being seen from the Dahlia garden.
The path now heads back past the other entrance to the Herbaceous Border, and bears right into the winter dell, named after a statue, used as a focal point amongst the evergreen shrubs.
David Jordan - © NT
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This winding section of the path leads past the spring garden and the lavatories towards the stricken giant redwood tree, a casualty of a summer lightning strike.
It was decided to keep the blasted stump as a testament to Nature's strength and it has become a popular talking point among our visitors.
The path now passes Bishop's Walk, an old drainage ditch from the priory of centuries before, and joins the front drive.
The gravelled drive passes between the Arboretum and the South Glade, with its drifts of snowdrops in late winter, open to the public on specified days in January and February.
Near the front gates, the path bears to the left between the herm statues of Vertumnus (left) and Hercules (right) and continues into the Pinetum, with its collection of evergreen trees.
Once through the Pinetum, a planting of giant redwoods, still in infancy, but growing fast, bring us back to the Visitor Centre/Restaurant/Shop complex and the end of our journey.
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