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View Guest Book Entries
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Entry Number & Date |
099 (28-08-2024) |
| Name |
Russell Grossbard |
| Town/City |
Fresno, California |
| Comments |
I lived at 50 Gledhow Park Ave 1962 to 1985, on the corner of Roxholme Grove and used to play in Gledhow Valley Woods and Chapel Allerton Hospital fields which are now apartments with my childhood
friends. I now live in Fresno California and was showing some friends the places I used to play as a child using Google Earth and was asked about the history of the area. While showing them the history of the area with the aid of Wikipedia I came across a link to your site. I would like to have my name entered into your guest book please. |
Entry Number & Date |
098 (23-10-2012) |
| Name |
Anonymous |
| Town/City |
Leeds |
| Comments |
I was born in Gledhow early 1960's and initially would go into (then known as) "Bluebell Woods" on Brackenwood Drive. As we got older this extended into Gledhow Valley Woods. Strangley, never across Gledhow Valley Road and only ever to the south of Gledhow Lane.
The Bench seat halfway up "Little Switzerland" holds fond memories of full days just playing out.
I now live some 8 miles to the west but this summer had spare time and visited by Mountain Bike. I went all around the area and found it to be the same well kept oasis I remember. I enjoyed a picnic on "the bench" then cycled home glad I'd visited.
Keep up the good work, and thanks. |
Entry Number & Date |
097 (22-12-2009) |
| Name |
Bethan and Matt |
| Town/City |
Gledhow, Leeds |
| Comments |
Our garden backs on to the Gledhow Valley Woods and on Sunday morning 20/12/2009 we were sat eating breakfast staring out of the window into the woods when I saw a Red Kite fly across our garden and into the woods. We saw it swoop down to the floor before flying away. It was a wonderful site! |
Entry Number & Date |
096 (13-09-2009) |
| Name |
Sarah |
| Town/City |
Chapel Allerton, Leeds |
| Comments |
I attended the Bath House Open Day today - thanks so much for all the information, and the cakes were delicious! Was interesting to hear about the Bath House and how it was used. I work at Quarry House and there are fountains/ponds in the garden there (which is in the centre of the building) which I understand are fed by the spring deep underground. Assume this is the water that fed the spa that used to be there.
I live at Chapel Allerton Hall at the end of Gledhow Lane and often walk through the woods and really enjoy it. I've heard stories of ghostly monks walking along Gledhow Lane, up Little Switzerland, but not sure if this is documented anywhere. |
| FGVW Comments |
Glad you enjoyed the Bath House Open Day. I have to admit nobody's ever mentioned ghost monks before ...we'll have to investigate :o) |
Entry Number & Date |
095 (18-06-2009) |
| Name |
Jon |
| Town/City |
Chapel Allerton, Leeds |
| Comments |
I've lived in Chapel Allerton for about a year, and until I came across this site I had no idea that Gledhow Valley woods existed. Anyway, I had a ride down and was amazed that somewhere so beautiful could be hidden so close to the city. I'm going to take my camera next time I go! |
Entry Number & Date |
094 (13-02-2008) |
| Name |
Maria |
| Town/City |
Leeds |
| Comments |
The woods looked beautiful on Sunday - spring is here already ...And we saw a deer! In Gledhow Woods! I've been walking my dog in the woods for nearly ten years and have never seen one before. How did deer get there, are there many, are they ok?
I've just looked on your web site for information about deer in the woods; couldn't find any. I'd love to know more.
Regards, Maria |
| FGVW Comments |
There have always been occasional deer sightings in the woods - usually they are roe deer just passing through the Gledhow Valley "green corridor" on their way to somewhere else. Last year, however, there was a pair of roe deer actually living in the woods and they even gave birth. It has been some time since anyone has seen these deer, so they may now have moved on.
I'm sorry about the lack of deer info on the web site - it's on the huge 'to-do' list, but I'm afraid it might not happen for some time. |
Entry Number & Date |
093 (27-12-2007) |
| Name |
Michael Turnbull |
| Town/City |
Bexhill On Sea |
| Comments |
I have just discovered your site, what an inspired idea to create such an organisation. I grew up in Allerton Grange Rise, living there from 1960-1980, and "the woods" played a major part in my childhood (I am now 51 years). I attended Gledhow CP School, then Allerton Grange School.
Together with a number of friends, I had my first taste of den making, damn building, climbing through the drain tunnels, exploring etc. We also used to play in "the maze", as well as "the rocks", large pieces of concrete at the head of the valley, by what used to be known as the "waste ground" - I think Allerton Grange Croft is there now.
These experiences gave me love of nature, as well as the desire to find out how the natural world worked. A childhood, which of course cannot happen today. My own children look at me in disbelief when I have shown them the woods on various visits back to Leeds.
My grandfather, Donald Turnbull, lived for many years in Gledhow Hall, probably 1955 to his death in 1971. He had a spacious flat on the first floor, over looking the lake and woods. I remember his bathroom, made entirely of black marble and his enormous sitting room, which had two grand pianos in one corner of the room.
Your site has brought back many happy memories and I commend you for what you are doing. |
Entry Number & Date |
092 (30-07-2006) |
| Name |
Paul |
| Town/City |
Belfast |
| Comments |
So nice to find this website all about the Gledhow Valley. I visited Leeds for the first time ever last weekend and my first encounter with the woods was walking home with a friend from a night out in Chapel Allerton, down one side of the valley and up the other along Gledhow Lane round the steep hairpin bend and under the little stone bridge. I just thought it was lovely that an area like that existed. It was quite deserted and maybe not the type of place you'd want to walk through alone late at night but it was enchanting and lovely!
So good to see there's a dedicated group of people here working to preserve and enhance it all. I didn't realise the woods were so extensive, and looking forward to exploring further on my next visit to Leeds. |
Entry Number & Date |
091 (20-07-2006) |
| Name |
Alison Hayes |
| Town/City |
York (former Leeds resident) |
| Comments |
I was delighted to read an entry asking whether Tolkein had ever visited the woods (see Guest Book Entry 84). I had no idea he had ever lived in Leeds, but as a teenager, every Spring, walking my dog in the woods, especially among the beeches in the part at the far end from Little Switzerland, I always used to think "Tolkein must have been thinking of beech woods in Spring when he invented Lothlorien", that being the forest of trees with golden leaves in Lord of the Rings. How amazing to think it might just possibly have been those very woods he was thinking of! |
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