Situated next to the entrance to the driveway down to Gedling House is the entrance to Gedling House Woods which I decided to visit after I’d been around the house. It was quite busy with dog walkers in the meadows area but I chose to follow the path through the woods and had them pretty much to myself, other than the squirrels.
Stirling Castle was another one of my day trips from Edinburgh. It was an easy train ride from Waverly Station lasting around 50 minutes and then a 15-20 minute walk from the station to the castle. Do note that the walk is mostly uphill, it’s not particularly challenging but if you have mobility issues you can catch a bus up to the castle. I had pre-booked my ticket which are timed entrance (as a member of English Heritage my ticket was free); generally an adult ticket is £17.50 online, £19.50 if bought when you arrive.
A couple of weeks ago I headed out to Newark to find all the decorated book benches as part of an art trail by Newark Creates and Wild in Art. Many of you may be familiar with Wild in Art sculptures that pop up all over the country, and even as far away as Sydney and Sao Paulo. The last ones in Nottingham were the robins in 2018. You could pick up a free map from either the Palace Theatre, Newark Bus Station or download from the website. I was using a downloadable map on my phone until I fortuitously bumped into one of the people who’d organised the trail wrapping up some media interviews and she gave me a paper map. The trail finished on 5 September (this is one of a series of posts I had planned to put up before the event I was writing about finished but which got delayed due to a family medical emergency).
After putting in some long hours at work recently (the joys of being self-employed!) I decided to take a random day off to enjoy the sunshine and headed out to Attenborough Nature Reserve. I’ve been here before a number of times but this time I travelled there from Nottingham on the train (an all day ticket is £3.70 and the journey takes around 10 minutes). Attenborough is a tiny station with only two platforms but the nature reserve is well signposted from there and it only takes about 5-10 minutes walk through some streets lined with very beautiful houses to reach one of the entrances to the reserve.
As I mentioned in my previous post I visited Greenock last year because my grandmother was born there and her grandparents moved there from England for work. I’ve done a lot of family tree research over the years – particularly during the COVID lockdowns – and this was a chance to explore some of the places she, her mother, aunts and grandparents lived and worked.
Back in October last year I spent just under a week in Edinburgh, using it as a base to explore other areas of Scotland as well as the city itself. This was my second visit to the city – you can read my previous posts about Edinburgh Castle, the National Museum of Scotland and Edinburgh Zoo. With the exception of the zoo which I revisited, I wanted to visit places that I hadn’t managed to the first time. One of these was Calton Hill which I headed to straight after checking in to my accommodation (The Elder York Guest House – highly recommended). Situated to the east of the city it is one of the best places to get a view of Edinburgh.
As mentioned before some of the Cambridge University Colleges charge for you to visit and some allow for photography on site in designated areas but all of the college gates can be seen for free and are certainly worth paying attention to. The first is that of St. John’s College which was built in 1516. The college arms in the middle are flanked by mythical beasts called yales that have elephant tails, antelope bodies, goat’s heads and large horns. The detail really is stunning.
If you’re looking for a bit of greenery in Cambridge you can look no further than the Backs and Sheep’s Green and Coe Fen Nature Reserves. It can be found along the west bank of the River Cam and steps away from the busier streets of the city.
One Sunday last month it was a surprisingly sunny day and I decided to venture out to Colwick Woods. I’d realised while looking at new to me green spaces in Nottingham that although I’ve been to Colwick Country Park a number of times I’d never been to the nearby woods. 50 hectares large it is an ancient woodland that has been around since at least the early 1600s and even possibly longer as well as part of it being farmland that was abandoned in the 1950s.
As part of my not at all regular exploration of Nottingham’s green spaces, on Monday I headed with my Dad to Bulwell Hall Park, five miles to the north of Nottingham city centre. I hadn’t even known the place existed and my dad wanted to show me some places he went with my mum when they were first engaged. We drove there and parked in what was described as the overflow car park [free] just short of the track that leads to the car park for the golf course, which I also hadn’t realised was there. I actually worked in Bulwell many years ago but never really had time to explore the area. I spotted a bus stop for the No. 70 bus very close by to the entrance which would be the best way of getting there on public transport.
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