Last Boxing Day my Dad and I decided to go for a walk around Gedling Country Park for a bit of fresh air and nature. Lots of other people, and their dogs, had had a similar idea so we did have to wait about 10 minutes before we could find a parking spot but after that the park is so big that it was easy not to feel crowded.
Nottingham Central Library opened in its brand new purpose built building last week and I went on one of their free guided tours to get a feel for the place since I’m hoping to do a lot of family tree research next year in the local studies section. I will say the building looks great, very modern, very spacious, very well thought out. It has been a long time coming though with its location at Angel Row closing in 2020 and the opening date of the new building being pushed back again, and again, and again. So the fact that it actually opened this year was something of a pleasant surprise!
I recently decided to take a long walk around Wollaton Hall and Deer Park as I hadn’t been for a while and was in need of some fresh air. It was also deer rutting season and though I didn’t see any stags I did see a lot more female deer than usual, plus a load of squirrels.
Recently needing to de-stress after a particularly busy week at work I ventured out to Colwick Country Park with my dad, prompted to do so by a recent council email about improvements to the footpaths at the park. A huge park with lakes and a marina that was opened in 1978 we were impressed with the new pathways – much more comfortable to walk on and far better for pushchairs and wheelchair uses.
Nottingham Castle (re)reopened on 26th June after a controversial opening after COVID lockdowns with accusations of racism and bullying amongst the staff, unjustifiably high prices for entry and generally shambolic management. (I’ve written about this elsewhere so I won’t rehash that or the history of the castle – you can read some of that here when I visited after the first re-opening). Adult tickets now cost £12 for an annual pass which is far more reasonable for what you get. There is also now no charge for under-15s.
Sunday 11 June was the 25th year that the Park Estate in Nottingham (a private housing estate which in a previous life was the deer park for Nottingham Castle) have put on their Park Garden Trail. Residents in the estate open up some of their gardens to visitors with the fee of £7.50 going towards local charities. The event is held every two years (COVID notwithstanding) and it’s one of those things that I was vaguely aware happened but had never attended before, so I decided on a whim to do it this year, buying my ticket online the night before.
It had been a while since I’d been to the farm so I decided to pop by just after one of May’s many bank holidays so that I could see the lambs, and also I hadn’t yet been to see the meerkats which they now, somewhat randomly, have in their barn.
I visited St. John’s Church in Carrington back when we had some snow in March. The doors were locked so I couldn’t go inside but the graveyard proved to be quite interesting on its own. Building of the church began in 1841 thanks to an endowment from Ichabod Wright, a local banker who lived in Mapperley Hall not far from the church and which has since been turned into flats.
After visiting the Sophie Ryder exhibition I decided to walk up through the University of Nottingham campus and enter Wollaton Park by the Derby Road gate of Beeston Lodge which I’ve never actually entered through before, despite having visited Wollaton Park since childhood. The lodge is Grade II listed and dates from 1832 – it was built by the then owner of Wollaton Hall, Henry Willoughby, 6th Baron Middleton and, along with other gatehouses around the park, was built after the Nottingham Reform Riots in October 1831.
I have to admit I’d never heard of Sophie Ryder before but I am on the mailing list for Lakeside Arts which covers Djanogly Gallery (based on the University of Nottingham campus) and I was intrigued by the photos of her work so I made a mental note to go visit and as is often the case with these things didn’t actually get around to it until it was in its last week (it closed on 12 March).
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