Discovered in the Bleak Midwinter - January 2

[kiwisue.livejournal.com]

During my recent UK holiday I visited the National Arboretum at Alrewas, in Staffordshire, with constant_muse. We were there to visit Lew's memorial in the Allied Special Forces Grove - as neither of us had much knowledge of where that was on the site we were basically "winging it" As I recall it was a day that offered us clouds and sundry scattered showers, and the results were in evidence all over the soggy lawns and paths of the Arboretum. The sun came out as we finally found our goal. We had a few adventures finding the grove; possibly our lack of navigational skills, but then the map outside the Remembrance Centre was not terribly clear and at the time we decided to set out there didn't seem to be any volunteers around to ask (there were plenty later, I am not sure where they'd all disappeared to at the critical moment). So we walked all the way around the Arboretum until we finally found ourselves on the right path according to the now-visible signage.

This post is dedicated to future visitors, may they be less directionally-challenged than we were!

Firstly, here is a google image of the Arboretum, with arrows showing the way visitors to Lew's memorial should walk. Needless to say we went in completely the wrong direction!



Directions: From the car park, enter the main building (the Remembrance Centre). From there you can walk through the cafeteria to the courtyard and into the Arboretum itself.

If your immediate goal is the Allied Special Forces Memorial Grove and Lew’s memorial, don’t take the diagonal path to the right, towards the impressive War Memorial mound, as you will get lost - the only signs seem to be the ones on the direct route. Walk along the main path, past the Falklands memorial, until you reach the intersection a little before Hut 2. Head right towards the river Tame then turn left onto Annette’s Memorial Way. The Allied Special Forces Memorial Grove is along that path. The first garden is dedicated to the men and women of Special Operations, the second to “Our Friends” (it is here you will find the plot dedicated to Lew). There are several more gardens further along. There is a WWII pillbox nearby, overlooking the river, and many more memorials to view during your visit.

Here is a picture of the grove from the start of Garden 1:



Lew's memorial garden plot:



The 'Bodie' plaque:



The Arboretum is a wonderful place to visit - so many stories, I truly didn't mind wandering about (well, I didn't once we'd found what we were looking for, before then I was a little anxious).

More Information: http://www.thenma.org.uk/
http://www.alliedspecialforcesmemorialgrove.org.uk/

File download (*.pdf file of the Arboretum image above, including the arrows and directions): https://www.dropbox.com/s/3socu9jlsyc6p4f/NATIONAL%20ARBORETUM.pdf?dl=0


Also I have locked this post to the community. Possible paranoia on my part, but while I think a map would have helped us, and hopefully will help others, I wasn't sure it was something that should be open for the world to see. Tell me I'm wrong and I'll unlock it. ETA: unlocked

Comments

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Looks like you had a beautiful day for it, too! I've not been to the National Arboretum yet, but I did go to the Manx National Arboretum, and that was a beautiful place too. It's nice to imagine such a peaceful spot for remembering our LC. And directions - thank you! *g*

As for locking the post - I must admit that I'm not really sure about your reasoning for this. The Arboretum is a public place, I think, and LC's memorial is public too, right? If I do a search in google for "Lewis Collins arboretum" then there are half a dozen posts that talk explicitly about it, providing photographs if not directions. And isn't the point of it that it's a public memorial for him, so if someone did do a search specifically to find it then directions would be helpful? That said - discoveredinalj has search engines minimised anyway, and this didn't come up in the search.

If that all makes sense then unlocking the post would probably be nice for any readers out there who follow the comm but aren't lj members...

[kiwisue.livejournal.com]

Probably just late night posting jitters. Surprising that there aren't clearer directions anywhere else, though - the Arboretum is huge. I wasn't sure about the search engine setting either. OK, will change it.

[msmoat.livejournal.com]

Cool, thanks for this. It looks like a great place to wander around, with a really nice reward. *g* Beautiful in the sunlight.

[kiwisue.livejournal.com]

It was just beautiful. The whole place is stunning (a bit squelchy underfoot on the day we were there, though the Special Forces grove was fine for walking through, luckily). Also has a nice cafeteria :)

[sc-fossil.livejournal.com]

It's nice seeing how beautiful the place seems. Thanks so much for sharing it.

[kiwisue.livejournal.com]

We were lucky with the sun coming out in the afternoon.

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

I hadn't realized that the Special Forces had done this for Lew. It's really wonderful and a great way to remember him.

[kiwisue.livejournal.com]

There's a story (http://www.lewiscollins.info/lcfc.html) linked at the bottom of the Lewis Collins Friendship Circle page through lewiscollins.info about how this came about. There was fundraising involved for the plaque and other things.

Not too far from Leicester - maybe you should visit next time you're in the UK!

[sw33n3y.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the detailed information. This is a place I would love to visit, if the chance came up. It looks like a well managed and beautiful memorial, that will improve with age. Thank you for sharing.

[kiwisue.livejournal.com]

You can take a look on Google streetview of the main path - road, really. It's from 2009 and there isn't a properly graded path down to the river. Just the beginning of one, and some mud! A lot has changed. Hope you get to see it.

[cyanne]

Looks like a lovely place, and it's wonderful that there's a memorial for Lew. I'm glad you got to visit, thanks for sharing it with us.