Lake Wood

This evening I went on a walk by myself to Lake Wood, which is about 10 minutes' walk from my parents'  house. Nobody else was there, and it was not far off sunset, so the whole place had a rather spooky air to it.

The wood is now managed by the Woodland Trust, but was once owned by a local family called the Streatfields, who landscaped it in the 18th century:

Lake Wood is a beautiful and dramatic place, full of interesting natural and man-made features. Rocky sandstone outcrops with high cliffs overhang the three acre spring-fed lake, with a cave-like boathouse carved out of the rock. The southern part of the site was landscaped in the early nineteenth century in the style of Capability Brown, with the lake created by the building of an earth dam.
Many exotic and native trees and shrubs were planted, some of which still survive including some large specimen trees. A carriage drive was added across the site, entering via a tunnel under the road. Another  tunnel cut through the rock completes the path around the lake.
Much of the wood is still ancient coppice supporting a wide variety of woodland flowers such as bluebell, wood sorrel, wood anemone, primrose, early purple orchid, Solomon’s seal and moschatel.
There is also a fascinating wildlife population including dormice, five species of bat, almost 60 species of bird and an interesting fish population.