Before the UK lockdown started and we were still able to drive to places for outdoor exercise, I spent a fun afternoon making a long list of local outdoor areas I wanted to visit during this period where "normal" travelling is no longer permitted. However, my parents and I only went to one of the places on the list - Jubilee Lake - before the government limited outdoor exercise to places within walking distance.
But now, after what feels like a long long time, driving to local areas of natural beauty is allowed again, and my list has come back out! Some of the places on it are a little too far to travel to and return from without a comfort break, so we've put them on hold for the moment, and others are closed, or have too many narrow spaces to really be safe. But there are still several suitable places remaining on the list, some of which we've been to in the past and others that we've yet to discover.
A couple of weeks ago, I ticked off a second item on the list when I went for a walk in Cirencester Abbey Grounds Park, a place I'd previously visited, but which I really enjoyed seeing again.
And today my parents and I went to a place on my list than none of us had ever been to before: Stanton Manor Park near Swindon.
It was a lovely place, but unfortunately, it wasn't quite the open space I'd envisaged (some of the paths through the woodland were quite narrow) and there were too many people there. Although the bank holiday was yesterday, it seemed that today the park was serving as "home school" for many children. In addition, my mum and I were the only people who were wearing masks. It's a little frustrating, given that the primary purpose of the masks is to protect others. In general, we managed to maintain the necessary social distance, but it wasn't as easy as I'd hoped. However, it was still a really nice trip out.
First of all, we walked through the woodland to the lake.
On the other side of the lake, you can find the Stanton House Hotel and the church next to it. We saw lots of sheep sleeping under the trees in front of the house! It's a really picturesque and typically English place; it looks like a scene from a cosy, historical costume drama.
On our way back to the car, we found this charming cottage with a kitchen garden (and some interesting sculptures) down a path. A sign said that there's a teashop inside, which is obviously closed at the moment. It will be really nice to have tea and cake there when everything reopens.
Near the car park, I just had to take some pictures of this activity centre named The Forgotten Kingdom (also currently closed), which has a cool big cat sculpture outside!
We all really enjoyed visiting this beautiful place in the countryside. Living in the West Country can have its downsides, but we're lucky at the moment to have lots of very scenic outdoor areas within our reach.
I would say I recommend Stanton Country Park as a place to visit, but given the amount of people that were there today, sadly I have to say it's best to leave it for now and wait until the coronavirus situation has improved. Once the teashop is open and social distancing is no longer necessary, it will be a perfect place for a day out in the countryside.
