Welcome to our series of feature blogs all about spring landscape photography tips.
Over the coming weeks you can discover why spring is the ideal season to improve your landscape photography skills and techniques.
We start with Part 1 to get you inspired to get out and about as the weather warms up to discover where to find the best spring landscape photography locations in the UK.
Spring is a beautiful time and as it starts to paint nature in its fresh colours and brings much needed warmth, it will rejuvenate your enthusiasm to get outdoors.
So get up early, make the most of the lighter days and discover how you can inject some colour into your spring landscape photography.
There are so many locations in the UK that will offer good opportunities for photographing spring colour. To get you started here are some great ideas for places you can discover in the UK:
Best places for spring landscape photography in the UK
Coast
The counties of Dorset, Devon and Cornwall offer some of the best coastlines for spring landscape photography. Their coastal cliffs and paths come alive with new spring greenery, yellow gorse and an abundance of wildflowers from April onwards such as sea pinks, kidney vetch and sea campion.
Head to one of the many beaches in any of these counties and you will find easy access to the South West Coast Path. This is the UK’s longest National Trail, stretching along some 630 miles of superb coastline and is a great place to start to get some spring landscape photography inspiration.
It offers invigorating springtime walks and scenic vistas and you can use the coastal wildflowers and wildlife as great subjects or use the views along the coastline for a spring sunrise or sunset.
Parks and gardens
There are many parks and gardens in the UK which open to visitors in the spring.
They offer peace and calmness during spring and are ideal for you to capture some ready made colour images.
The gardens and parklands of the many historic houses and stately homes open their gardens to the public generally from the end of March.
They are transformed into colour and come alive with flowers and tree blossom. They are often quieter out of the main holiday seasons and in spring their gardens are at their most colourful, beautiful and fresh. Here are just a few you can visit:
Stourhead (National Trust), Wiltshire:
The world-famous gardens set around a grand landscape of temples and follies are packed with magnolias, azaleas and colourful rhododendrons.
Batsford Arboretum, Gloucestershire:
Home to the country’s largest private collection of trees and shrubs and packed with magnolias and Japanese cherries set amongst the bamboo and touches of the Orient.
Trelissick Gardens (National Trust), Cornwall:
These gardens display a superb collection of springtime bulbs, camellias, magnolias, flowering cherries and rhododendrons.
Set amongst its 40 acres of woodland, formal lawns and maritime gardens there is much to explore.
Pashley Manor, East Sussex:
Holds an annual Tulip Festival around the end of April and its gardens set around its Tudor manor are carpeted with around 35,000 tulips planted in magnificent displays.
Brogdale, Kent:
Home to the world’s largest collection of fruit trees and plants the orchards are awash with colour in the spring. Apple, pear, plum and cherry trees provide a spectacular blossom display from late March into April.
To celebrate the cherry blossom they hold an annual Hanami festival in April similar to those held in Japan for a picnic experience amongst the blossom.
Woodland
The UK is fortunate to have many woodland areas to discover in the spring. Some of the best woodlands in the UK for spring colour include Priestley Wood in Suffolk, Duncliffe Wood in Dorset and Eridge Rocks in East Sussex.
They are fantastic for springtime walks and seeing how nature is starting to bloom with wild daffodils, primroses and sweet violets emerging.
Early flowers such as the wood anemone lying low on the woodland floor will start to open if they get a glimpse of sunshine.
Overcast days are ideal for woodland scenes and from late spring into May onwards many of the UK’s woodland floors become carpeted with bluebells.
Access to some bluebell woodland is free of charge; other woodlands that are owned and maintained by organisations often charge an admission fee for access to their gardens and woodland areas.
The National Trust’s ancient Great Wood at Blickling Estate in Norfolk, is one of the best places to see bluebells in the country, as well as the Great North Wood at Buckland Abbey in Devon and the Ashridge Estate in Hertfordshire.
Foxley Wood in Norfolk is the county’s largest remaining ancient woodland, and is one of the free places you can visit to see bluebells.
Forests
When sharing our spring landscape photography tips, we thought it important to discuss photographing forests.
There are many forests in the UK to discover in the spring. Beneath the ancient tree boughs, many of which are hundreds or thousands of years old, is where history is told and nature unfolds.
Some great forests for exploring in spring are Grizedale in Cumbria, the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire and Thetford Forest in Norfolk.
These are great for capturing the pale green foliage as it starts to emerge and is ideal to create some some unusual shots of the forest canopy before it closes over in full leaf.
By pointing a wide angle lens at 90 degrees upwards from the forest floor the tree tops will join together to produce some striking, converging verticals.
Hills and peaks
There are many national parks in the UK such as those in the Peak District, Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales which burst into colour in the spring.
Although these are very popular destinations in the spring, there are vast areas to discover and you can easily escape any crowds by getting off beaten track to find some peace and quiet.
There are great areas all around these national parks for springtime walks. With landscapes of dry stone walls, hillside streams and gentle rolling valleys full of spring wildflowers, there are many spring photography subjects to choose from.
We hope you have enjoyed these spring landscape photography tips in this first part of our series of blogs.
So now you know where to go for the best spring landscapes in the UK, look out for Part 2 of our spring blog coming soon. Here you can discover more locations in countries outside of the UK where you can find spring colour for your landscape photography.