There weren't many signposts for it, but it wasn't too hard to find, off the A38. As we entered they had a place where you could light a candle to remember someone - we chose to remember Ancient Assistant's cousin Vincent, who was involved in the Korean War.
They have one hundred and fifty acres, with fifty thousand trees. Planting began in 1997 and the goal is to offer a place to remember not just the military, but also other services such as the Police, RNLI, Ambulance and Fire Services. There are also memorials to a number of other charities within the grounds.
They have a small charity shop in a hut which had some good stuff, well priced! Having the Ancient Assistant in tow (and being lazy) we heard they had a land train that tours the grounds, so we decided to pay £5 for each of the humans and visit the memorials the easy way! Trouble is there are sooooo many! Where I remember what they are I'll point them out but there's bound to be some I can't identify (if I got it wrong, tell me) - there are more than three hundred! Hope you enjoy the ride!
We started with the British Limbless Ex-Service Men's Association (BLESMA) and the Royal Engineers memorials, as well as the Inner Wheel Grove, a charity which helped set up the Arboretum.
Here is The Fire and Rescue Service and Civil Defence. Behind the train is the Korean War Memorial.
They have a monument to 9-11 in the Twin Towers Memorial, which has debris from the Towers, donated to British Fire and Rescue Services by USA Firefighters. There is the British Nuclear Test Veterans Memorial (a replica of one on Christmas Island). Below right is the Fleet Air Arm Memorial.
We passed memorials to the Adjutant General’s Corps, The Royal Air Force Medical Services, Search and Rescue Organisations and HMS Neptune and Kandahar.
The RAF Association Remembrance Garden and the Royal British Legion's Never Forget Memorial.
The Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund, The Railway Industry Memorial and the Shackleton Association Memorial.
There's a pretty walk alongside a cleaned up river which the train drives alongside. There is a pathway here where folks can walk their dogs or themselves. We drove past The Household Division Memorial and The Parachute Regiment and Airborne Forces Memorial, which I thought was pretty impressive.
I liked The Showmen's Guild of Great Britain Memorial with it's carousel horse. The memorial to the Royal Army Veterinary Corps is their first. You can't make it out so well in the photo but there are images of both a horse and a dog being treated. The Polish Forces War Memorial is pretty impressive.
We drove alongside The Beat (Police Memorial Avenue) which is an avenue with some Horse Chestnuts trees either side. This was funded by every Police Force in the UK, with Chestnuts being chosen as these were the trees the first truncheons were made from. There were also memorials to The Royal Tank Regiment and the Royal Military Police.
Always present is the Armed Forces Memorial (below left). Thanks to @Nat_Mem_Arb, I now know the middle one is the Royal Hampshire Regiment Memorial. Below right is the impressive The Corps of Royal Engineers Memorial, with four ten-tonne granite blocks, appearing to float 15cm above the ground (they are actually on steel dowels).
The Masonic Garden, Normandy Veterans and the Police Memorial Garden.
I particularly liked the Memorial to the 49th Infantry West Riding Division which is a polar bear! Although the train's stop at the Armed Forces Memorial wasn't completely the end of the tour (it wasn't far off), we got off the train here so we could take a closer look. They had a golf cart to take the Ancient Assistant up to the top.
This was dedicated in 2007 and honours members of the Armed Forces killed on duty. It is forty-three metres across with two curved walls and two straight walls, on which are inscribed the names of those remembered. There are two bronze statues, this one is of a Serviceman raised aloft on a stretcher by comrades, while family members look on. It tells of those left behind.
Opposite, the statue is of a warrior being prepared for burial by female and Gurkha soldiers. A figure chisels his name on the memorial. Another stands before double doors, pointing to a world beyond where the warrior will rest
The way in which the memorial has been aligned means that at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month the sun's rays stream through the door of the sculpture, illuminating the wreath in the centre of the Memorial. Pretty amazing!
As we walked back to the Visitor Centre I took a closer look at that polar bear. The National Service Memorial, the Auxiliary Territorial Service Statue and Policeman a very tall chap in 1950s uniform. It was originally carved for the Kent Constabulary.
Done with the memorials for this visit (it looked like rain anyway), we headed inside the large Visitor Centre. We took a look around the shop first - they had some nice stuff in here. The usual bears in t-shirts (grr - just sell the t-shirts!), magnets, pens and the like, but some nice wartime memorabilia as well as many poppy items. Some of it was a little pricey but nothing unusual for a gift shop.
Then we headed into the café. The boys and I soon found what we wanted! Love coffee cake, but they had a variety of cakes and biscuits as well as sandwiches and even a hot food counter. Theo was happy when he found some cider in the fridge alongside the soft drinks! For two pieces of cake, a sandwich, tea, hot chocolate and cider it only came to £15. Not bad at all.
It was a great way to spend a couple of hours - you could spend longer. I'd recommend the land train first to get the lay of the land - it takes about fifty minutes and runs every half an hour, then you are free to walk some of the one hundred and fifty acres yourself. You can also take a walking tour with one of the volunteers, or grab a walking tour map and do it yourself! It's a pretty place to sit and relax, too, with dozens of benches scattered around so people can just sit and think. I like that they also have a path for dog-walkers too.
The only thing I would change is to make the train hop-on, hop-off. You pay £5 each for adults and can get off at about four places, but you can't get back on again - we think this is because once you are on they collect your tickets so couldn't tell who paid or didn't. I'd change this - give riders a paper ticket to reshow, or maybe a wristband and let the driver just walk down the bus at each stop. This way you could see the memorials in a particular place, then pick up the tour where you left off. It certainly works at places like Arlington Cemetery in Virginia, USA.
As we left the Visitor Centre (below left) through the gift shop (you have to!) we spotted one more memorial to The Berlin Airlift.
comments powered by Disqus