Floral Frolics Down The Derbyshire Dales: The Day that Dr. Bellamy rang

The image that you see was taken on 6th May 2020 from a vantage point called Hammerton Hill that overlooks the confluence between Miller’s Dale and Tideswell Dale. In the foreground is a small colony of early purple orchids. In the middle ground, across the valley, is the large Victorian mansion of Ravenstor Hall. Ravenstor Hall has been a Youth Hostel for at least seventy years. In 1954 it was the temporary accomodation for a botanist who’s name would become legendary; a man I never got to meet but who was once kind enough to telephone me to explain the connection between himself and a plaque on a narrow, unassuming spur of Miller’s Dale’s south-facing slopes.

As a passionate ‘floraphile’ I was visiting this particular topographical feature of this popular limestone valley during the spring of 2014 searching for the season’s first wild flowers when I chanced upon a small commemorative plaque near the top of the sloping footpath that leads to Ravestor Youth Hostel from the rear of the public lay-by on the approach to Litton Mill. It read: ‘This limestone bank is dedicated to Dr. David Bellamy, International Botanist & T.V. Personality. It was here in 1954 that he was first inspired by wild flowers.’

But, was it true ? After a little internet detective work, I tracked down his agent’s address and dispatched a letter asking if Dr. Bellamy could confirm or deny the astonishing claim. I never expected to receive a reply, but sure enough I did: ‘Dear Stephen, please send me your telephone number so we can have a chat.’

That ‘phone call came at 9 pm. on Friday 11th April 2014: ‘Hello, am I speaking to Stephen Middleton ?’, inquired a lady’s voice, senior and well-spoken. ‘It’s Rosemary Bellamy. David would like a word with you. You’ll have to speak up. his hearing is not as good as it used to be.’

So, then. Was it true that David Bellamy became a legendary botanist because of the flowers he found in Miller’s Dale ? ‘Absolutely’. he said. How do I know ? Because he told me.

The full account of his experience is contained in his autobiography, The Jolly Green Giant (2002).

That same, narrow, unassuming spur of Miller’s Dale’s south-facing slopes is known as ‘Bellamy’s Bank’.