Back in the beginning of June I went along to the Open Gardens event in Burton Joyce, a village just outside Nottingham. I’m fairly familiar with the village as a friend grew up there but I’d never been to the Open Gardens event before. 11 gardens were open to the public with the ticket price (£6 if booked in advance) going towards Maggie’s, a cancer charity based at Nottingham City Hospital.
For my birthday back in May I decided that I’d like to go back to Yorkshire Wildlife Park. The last time we went, all the way back in 2016 (!) we were very impressed but we were even more so this time. They’ve expanded greatly and everywhere looks fantastic with a whole shopping area just before the entrance plus larger enclosures for all the animals. I’ve been to a few wildlife parks lately which have cheetahs (my favourite wild animal) but they hadn’t been out and about so I was incredibly happy to see so many here and be able to take photos of them.
The Royal Crescent in Bath is one of the most famous and well photographed areas in the city but until this most recent visit my friend and I hadn’t gone there, usually being too busy with visiting the Christmas market. This trip though we wanted to head over there as though my friend had seen it before I hadn’t. We walked from the centre along the Gravel Walk which takes you past the Georgian Garden (just closing so we only had a quick peek inside) and the backs of some of Bath’s very impressive housing.
On my March trip to Bath I made sure to pop into Persephone Books at 8 Edgware Buildings, not far from the centre of the city. I’d vaguely heard of it before but hadn’t thought to look into actually going there until we went to visit the Royal Crescent on this trip (a later post) and I noted the bookshop was on the way. They reprint fiction and non-fiction, mostly by women, that has been neglected and would be out of print otherwise.
You may remember that my last visit to Bath was cut short due to Storm Darragh. My friend and I had to reschedule our Roman Baths tickets and chose the last weekend in March figuring, quite rightly as it happened, that we would have some nice weather for our return. Driving in Bath is very much not recommended so we parked as usual at the Lansdown Park and Ride and took the bus into Bath – the Roman Baths are only about a 10 minute walk from where the bus drops you off.
On my way to and from Arundel Wetland Centre I passed by Swanbourne Lake. I decided to pop in for a look on the way back but knew I wouldn’t have very long to explore as it was already quite late in the afternoon.
For my last full day in Arundel I knew that I wanted to spend my time exploring the Arundel Wetland Centre. It’s an easy walk from the town centre – simply walk by the entrance to the castle and continue all the way down the street, over a bridge then continue until you see the entrance on the right – it takes maybe 15 to 20 minutes. Do note that part of the route has no pavement but it’s a wide track and easy to navigate safely. There is of course a car park if you’re driving.
I’d heard that Arundel Cathedral was a beautiful example of Gothic architecture so on my first afternoon in the town I’d gone to take pictures of the exterior before exploring inside a couple of days later. In 1868 Henry Fitzalan Howard commissioned Joseph Hansom (who also designed the famous hansom cab) to design a cathedral that would be in keeping with the impressiveness of Arundel Castle.
Directly opposite Arundel Castle is Arundel Museum which tells the history of the town spanning over thousands of years. It was founded in 1963 by a group of local people who founded the Arundel Museum Society, a registered charity that still runs the museum. It moved to its present location next to the River Arun in 2013. Tickets are £5 though you do get a discount if you show your ticket to Arundel Castle.
The main reason for my trip to Arundel was to visit the castle. I’d seen a video online which inspired me to research more about it and once I saw how easy it was to reach by train I was sold. I will say though that as a visitor and from the ground there is no real way of seeing the whole place in its glory (other than on approach by train) as it is surrounded by trees but the gardens and interiors more than made up for it.
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