Gedling Country Park, Nottingham

Gedling Country Park is built on the site of Gedling Colliery which started producing coal in 1902 and closed in 1991. It was opened in 2015 as a 580 acre park with lots of open space, a choice of walks of varying difficulty and two viewing platforms that on a bright day allow for views across to Lincolnshire and Leicestershire.

We chose to do the Top Hard walk which has some steep inclines because we wanted to see the views – the estimate is around an 80 minutes walk but since I’m always stopping and taking photos I don’t tend to pay much attention to that! The viewing platforms (funded by the EU) where actually opened in July this year and we had good fun trying to make out the sights you’re supposed to be able to see and had a nice conversation with someone else trying to do the same – we did spot some but others it was a bit too hazy in the distance to make out.

Along one of the easier trails there is a selection of very well done carvings of animals, I particularly liked the hedgehog and the fox.

I was also determined to try and catch a look at a grasshopper, as although I’ve heard them plenty here and around the UK I’ve never actually seen one before, and somehow I managed to achieve this and even better to get a photo of two of them on the same leaf! The one on the right I’m pretty sure is a common green grasshopper and the other I’m unsure of – any grasshopper experts feel free to jump in in the comments.

It’s a really lovely place to spend some time particularly during the current situation when a bit of fresh air is needed. It was certainly busy but everyone was being careful and observing social distancing. You can find more photos here.