Looking for Wallabies in Somerford Common Wood

One Sunday afternoon during the second lockdown, I went for a walk with Claudio and my dad in Somerford Common Wood, part of the Braydon Woods forest area in Wiltshire.

Though I'd been past the wood many times in the car, I'd never actually walked there before. But over the last couple of years, I'd been wanting to go for a walk there for one reason in particular: many people have reported sighting wallabies roaming wild there! The theory is that someone kept them on a farm somewhere nearby, but they managed to escape and are now living in the wood.

I've written before about my dream of travelling to Australia and seeing all the amazing wildlife there is there - I'd say it's actually my number one bucket list travel destination. However, given that Covid has made it nearly impossible to go travelling abroad, seeing some Aussie animals locally seemed like a good alternative for the time being!

Unfortunately, we weren't lucky with our marsupial spotting this time; it was very cold and muddy, so perhaps that's why the wallabies weren't out and about. But we did have a nice walk in the forest.

It would be great to go back in the summer when the weather is warmer and the chances of seeing the animals are higher. But to be honest, what would be even better would be to actually go to Australia! Hopefully one day...

Update: 10/02/2022

We were driving through Somerford Common Wood en route to Chippenham today, and I saw a creature that may well have been a wallaby!!! Okay, so there's also a fair chance it may have been a muntjac...but I'm choosing to believe it really was a wallaby! And I'm hoping that it was some kind of sign of good luck for the future...

Castle Combe

Our next outdoor outing was to another place in the Cotswolds, Castle Combe. This pretty village has been used as a filming location in movies such as War Horse, and attracts visitors from all over the world - even during lockdown, as we discovered!

It is only a small village, but every corner of it is picturesque, old-fashioned and charming.

There is one particular part of Castle Combe that is photographed more than any other: the bridge over the Bybrook River.

However, it was quite difficult for us to get pictures in that spot, as there was a group of Brazilian tourists literally camped out there the entire time we were in the village. One woman was wearing a summer dress (bear in mind that it was November and the temperature was about 5 degrees Celsius) and was posing for a full-blown photo shoot on the bridge, first on her own and then with her boyfriend. My parents thought she must have been a professional model posing for a magazine, but I'm in no doubt that the whole thing was purely for social media.

Now, like most people, I like to have my photo taken in the places I travel to, as a souvenir of the trip. But there's definitely a limit - for me, it's important to spend more time actually enjoying being at the destination and being present in the moment, rather than doing nothing but taking pictures. Besides, there are always other visitors who want to take photos too, and it's selfish to hog an entire photo spot all to yourself.

But eventually we did manage to take some photos of ourselves there, during a gap in the Instagram photo shoot. It only took us a few minutes to get the shots we wanted!

I have to admit I was annoyed by the tourists, but I eventually saw the funny side of the situation. (They're probably still there on that bridge now!) It didn't stop us from having a great time in Castle Combe, and our trip there was one of our favourite outings during the second lockdown.

An interesting fact about Castle Combe is that there's a famous race circuit just outside the village. (I remember going there when I was little, but I don't remember the village itself.) As Claudio loves cars, it would have been great to go and see a race there, but unfortunately Covid put a stop to that plan. At least it means we've got a good excuse to go back in the future!

Bibury With Claudio

One of our favourite outdoor outings during Lockdown 2 was when we went to the beautiful village of Bibury in the Cotswolds. It's really an amazing place for walking around, enjoying the scenery, and forgetting about everything else that's going on in the world.

The village wasn't quite as pretty as it was back in June, when there were lots of flowers everywhere, but on the upside, at least this time we could actually enter the most famous street, Arlington Row, and take photos there.

Claudio was really impressed by Bibury, and found it even more beautiful than Lacock, the previous village we'd visited. He described it as an enchanting place, and I would definitely agree with him!

When the time came for us to leave, neither of us wanted to go. Luckily, a few days later we had the chance to go to another charming Cotswolds village: Castle Combe. It was a place that was almost as new to me as it was to Claudio, and I'll be writing about it shortly after Christmas.