Bluebells are my absolute favourite flower. I would even go so far as to say that I am obsessed with them. We have a few glades of bluebells near us that I try and visit as often as possible during the short bluebell season, but after discovering several years ago that Hamstreet Woods has some of the best bluebell displays in the county, we try and make an annual pilgrimage to breathe in the sight and smell of these beautiful flowers. Last year I wasn’t well enough, so this year it was at the top of my list of things to do.

Although only a small village, Hamstreet has a train station (one stop from Ashford International) and the woods are only a very short walk away. There are three way marked trails of varying lengths, but the red one (5km) is the one you need to follow for peak bluebell viewing.

We decided to visit on a sunny Easter Monday, wanting to avoid the bank holiday crowds that were likely to be at the seaside, and although the car park was full, within minutes it felt as if we were the only people in the woodland. There was a chorus of bird song, and having had a conversation at the hairdressers recently about the Merlin bird identification app (as you do!), which I had downloaded last year, used once in our back garden and then promptly forgotten all about, decided that I would put it to the test. I can recognise more birds by sight than sound – although I am in no way an expert – and assumed that there would mostly be just blackbirds and robins. As we settled ourselves on a bench with a flask of tea, I was amazed at the variety of birds that were being identified – yes, blackbird and robin, but also chaffinch, blackcap (we actually saw one sitting on a branch, but prior to that I had no idea that this was even a bird!), chiffchaff (ditto), great tit, blue tit, dunnock and wren to name just a few, all joining together in this amazing woodland symphony. We came for the bluebells, which didn’t disappoint – there were great, wonderful swathes of them – but to be honest, it was the birds that turned out to be the star of the show.

After leaving the woods, we headed along the main road through the village, before joining the footpath that follows the Royal Military Canal. I had another one of my cow panics, especially when I spotted how many calves there were, but although there was a small bridge across the ditch that was separating them from us, none of them took advantage of it and they stayed firmly on their own side.

The banks of the canal were littered with shells, which seemed rather incongruous amongst the grass. Had they been washed up by a particularly high tide and then eaten by a lucky bird? We did see a heron, but he wasn’t able to enlighten us! (And in keeping with the baby animal theme, there were ducks and ducklings swimming along the canal.)

You can follow the canal into Appledore and then on to Rye (and beyond), but today we were having a shorter walk, and so turned off and headed towards the village of Warehorne, with the church of St Matthew sitting on a ridge ahead of us. Once upon a time, this church was on the coastline, and the Saxon Shore Way (a long distance footpath which traces the South Eastern coast of England as it was in Saxon times, from Gravesend in Kent to Hastings in East Sussex) runs through Warehorne. Now, the sea has receded and the church has commanding views across the Romney Marsh. There is a well positioned bench in the peaceful churchyard where you can sit and enjoy them. We sat and also enjoyed a couple of chocolate cornflake nests that I’d popped into my bag. After all, it was Easter!

The most striking thing about the outside of the church is that it has a brick tower which doesn’t match the stone of the rest of the church. This is because in 1770 the tower was destroyed by lightning and when it was rebuilt seven years later, it was much cheaper to use brick. It’s a pretty little church with its original Georgian box pews, and on our Easter Monday visit, there was a trail to follow around the church, depicting different elements of the Easter story. It’s useful to know that they also have a selection of books for sale, and a toilet at the back!

Just across the road from the church (and apparently joined by tunnels used by smugglers) is The Woolpack Inn. We always say that one day we will stop and have a pub lunch there, and it was looking particularly tempting with customers enjoying the sunshine in the beer garden, but today wasn’t that day as we were heading home for a late lunch of Easter leftovers, so we pressed on.

And oh my goodness, the first field we came to had a little flock of pygmy goats! We were excited enough just to see them there, but were even more excited (combined with a little nervousness on my part of course!) when they instantly came tripping over to us. They were small, so not as scary as a cow, and they turned out to be very friendly and just wanted to say hello and have a scratch between the ears. We could have stayed there for the rest of the afternoon, but the goats got bored before we did, and headed off for more grass to munch.

The disappointment at leaving them was short lived as the next field was full of lambs. So many lambs. So much cuteness. Oh and there was buckthorn blossom everywhere. Does anything say Spring more than lambs and blossom? This little one must have only been born very recently as both ewe and lamb still had the umbilical cords attached to them.

Another little one had wandered away from its mother and was sitting right by the gate that we needed to take out of the field. We didn’t want to alarm either the lamb or its mother by striding through, so hovered uncertainly, matching the number on the lamb with that of the mother, and then waiting until the latter’s persistent bleating ensured that they were successfully reunited.

One more final shot of cute lambs.

Back in Hamstreet, the trains were for once on our side and we headed straight to the station, although there is a little tea room (The Cosy Kettle) which is useful if you’ve just missed one and have an hour to wait. It had been a perfect Easter/spring walk – bluebells, bird song, ducklings, calves, goats, lambs, blossom, blue sky and sunshine – and we headed home feeling very happy indeed.