Just an hour from Treetops with a £10 entry it was a perfect time to see the beautiful spread of autumn leaves.
My walk started on a high Tree Top Walkway which was a lovely way to start exploring the arboretum. There are 600 acres altogether!
Westonbirt started in the Victorian times, with a wealthy landowner called Robert Holford who financed expeditions around the world to collect specimens from the natural world, wanting to find the exotic species, the rare and the beautiful.
By 1855 much of the arboretum had been laid out, aesthetically, not in plant groups or country groups, just in a stunning picturesque vision.
When he died, his son George continued to plant the trees and the many rhododendrons that people visit Westonbirt for every year.
In 1956 the whole 600 acres, 15,000 tree specimens, 2,500 species, 5 national tree collections and 142 champions were handed over to the Forestry Commission
Westonbirt has the National Japanese Maple collection
(over 400 different types) which provided much of yesterday's colour.
