The Uffington White Horse

Yesterday my parents and I took a trip to the Uffington White Horse in Oxfordshire, in South East England. This was actually the first time I'd left the South West and crossed into a different region since our trip to Oxford in March, so it felt like a kind of milestone. 

The White Horse is a really fascinating place to visit and is an important marker of the history of this country. As the name implies, it's a drawing of a white horse on a hill. But what's really interesting is that it's believed to have been created in prehistoric times, sometime between 1000 BC and 100 AD. It's amazing to think that it's still here today.

In addition, the horse is located in a really picturesque part of the English countryside, in the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, so you can see fantastic panoramic views from up on the hill. 

The only downside is that the horse is really seen best from the air, rather than from the walking trail, so my pictures don't show the outline of the horse very clearly. (I would definitely recommend giving it an image search online!) But luckily, I was able to take lots of nice photos of the surrounding countryside.

It was really nice to travel to a different region of England and visit such a historical place. I'm looking forward to going further afield as well as seeing some more local places in the coming months...

Cleveland Lakes Nature Reserve

So this week's trip was to Cleveland Lakes Nature Reserve. 

The name of the destination may make it sound like I've left the country and gone to Cleveland, Ohio in the United States, but in fact the nature reserve is another one of those places just down the road which we'd never got round to visiting before!

However, like many of the other places in the Cotswold Water Park, it has scenery that, to me, is very reminiscent of the lakes you'd find in the U.S. or Canada.

I had read on the Cotswold Water Park website that otters live in the Cleveland Lakes, and I was really hoping to see one. Unfortunately, they seemed to be hiding yesterday, but we did see a beautiful swan!

After our walk by the lakes, we went to the nearby Jennie's Kitchen café, which I've previously written about on this blog. Sadly, the alpaca pictured with me outside the café in my Cotswold Water Park post has been moved to a different field, so I couldn't say hello to him this time. But it was still really nice to go there again for the first time since March, look at the flowers in the garden, and enjoy a vegan chocolate cheesecake!

All in all, it was a lovely morning. Even though I wish I was living in Chile right now, visiting places like these makes me appreciate my local area a lot more.

Cotswold Lavender: A Little Bit of Provence in England

This week's trip was to Cotswold Lavender in the north of Gloucestershire. It's a field of lavender, which as the title of this post suggests, is very reminiscent of the famous lavender fields of the south of France. So it's one of those pseudo-foreign destinations in the UK that are nice alternatives to destinations abroad, especially now at this time when taking a flight or staying in a hotel can feel a little risky.

But to be honest, even visiting Cotswold Lavender felt slightly risky. It was surprisingly busy, even though we arrived there at opening time on a weekday morning and the weather was bad. (I guess that's one area in which England can't really compete with Provence!) And I often felt like my parents and I were having to be extra vigilant about social distancing, as many other people seemed to be totally unaware that it's still something we all must do...

However, it was still a really nice place to visit. The field was beautiful to see; there were several different types of lavender of various shapes and colours, as well as a section filled with chamomile flowers. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't ideal for taking photos, but that didn't stop me from snapping away with my phone!

I think Cotswold Lavender would be a better place to visit in non-pandemic times, when the distillery, shop and café are open again, and visitors can make more of a proper day out of a visit there. Right now, there's only a kiosk open to buy some gifts and drinks, and as there was already a queue building up outside it by the time we finished our visit, we decided to go and have a coffee somewhere else.

We ended up stopping off at the Cotswold Food Store in Longborough and going to the café there. The only vegan cake available was a fruit cake (which wouldn't be my first choice!) but it was very tasty, as was my soya latte.

In summary, it was a really nice morning and I enjoyed the experience of feeling like I was in France whilst still being in the UK!

Lydiard Park

This week I returned to yet another place that I hadn't visited since my childhood: Lydiard Park. It's a huge country park near Swindon featuring a grand manor house, an 18th century walled garden, a parish church and a lake. I actually think it's been my favourite lockdown outing so far; it's just a really scenic place and so spacious. It felt like a very safe destination to visit during this current period, where travel is tricky to say the least.

The first part of the park we saw was the Ice House. When I read those two words on the direction sign, I was pretty excited. My mind was conjuring up images of a building akin to Elsa's ice palace in Frozen. However, when we arrived in the corner of the woods where the Ice House was located, this is what we found:

Not quite what I'd been hoping for! It turned out to be a building where ice is stored, as opposed to a building made out of ice. Maybe "The Ice Storage House" would be a better name for it...

But the rest of the park was definitely not disappointing, as there's so much nature to see there. I really liked seeing all the towering trees, which were so much bigger than most of the trees in England.

Next we saw Saint Mary's church, a typical English country church, which has origins in the 13th century.

We had a look through the gates of the 18th century walled garden. Unfortunately it's closed at the moment, probably because it wouldn't be easy to socially distance on its narrow paths. But it's still a pretty place to see from outside.

Then we walked over to a field full of beautiful ponies. (Okay, so this might be the main reason why Lydiard Park has been my favourite lockdown outing so far!)

After saying hello to the lovely horses, we went to see the house, which is a very impressive building.

Near the house, there's a small lake inhabited by many ducks, swans and other birds. It was very peaceful to watch them swimming around.

All in all, it was a great morning out, and I'm sure we'll go back in the future.

It's good to know that even during this pandemic, there are still various travelling experiences we can enjoy. However, I have to admit that I can't wait for travel to return to normal again. Well, maybe not quite normal again; there are changes that should be made in terms of sustainability and mass tourism. But I am missing the freedom we had before, and I'm dreaming of exploring new places and of course, starting my new life in Chile...

The world is opening up again now, and that's both exciting and worrying. While I'm of the opinion that we can't feasibly stay stuck at home forever, and that safe travel can be possible if done very very cautiously, sadly a lot of people don't seem to want to follow the rules. Just look at what happened in Bournemouth the other week! I had no idea when we went there last year that it would be the must-visit destination for summer 2020...

Despite my concerns, I have planned a short-haul break away in September, but I'm holding off on actually booking anything until I feel more confident about travelling again.

It's a good thing that there are still several more local places that I've yet to tick off on my lockdown travel list! Next week, we're planning to go to a destination that I've never been to before and which I'm very excited to see. It's only about an hour away in the car, but judging from the pictures on its website, it looks like it could be somewhere much further afield...