Wild Garlic Woodland — Forest of Dean

Each April and May, the ancient oak woodland of the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire and the adjacent Wye Valley undergoes a transformation of extraordinary fragrance and botanical drama as wild garlic — Allium ursinum — carpets the forest floor in millions of star-white flowers extending from the riverbank to the woodland edge in continuous drifts that turn the entire valley floor white and fill the gorge air with an intense garlic fragrance detectable from 200 metres away. The Forest of Dean and Wye Valley hold some of England's finest wild garlic displays due to the combination of ancient undisturbed woodland soil, high moisture from the river valley, and the deer and boar that graze the understorey without consuming the unpalatable garlic. Wild boar — the only feral population in England — root the woodland floor around the garlic stands and are often encountered at dawn in the Dean's open rides during the garlic season. The Wye Valley's dramatic limestone gorge provides a spectacular backdrop to the botanical display, with the garlic-white valley floor visible from the valley rim at Symonds Yat and the limestone crags above reflected in the river. Bluebells follow the wild garlic directly, with the two displays overlapping briefly in early May to create a blue-and-white botanical combination of great beauty.