Highfields Park

Today I'm going to write a quick post about Highfields Park in Nottingham. This is a park next to the university campus, which has a big lake surrounded by trees. It's a great place to walk around, and I used to go there a lot when I was studying in Nottingham, as it always made me feel relaxed. It never occurred to me to blog about it back then, but now that I'm getting more into this blogging thing, I think it's a place that's definitely worth writing a little bit about!

There's more to do there than just walking. It's possible to canoe and kayak on the lake, and there's also a crazy golf course! If you're interested in art, the Lakeside Art Centre has regular exhibitions as well as a very nice café. Across the road, you can find another art gallery which also has a café that doesn't get so busy.

At the weekends, the park can get very crowded, especially in the summer. So I always preferred to go during the week or when the weather was bad, because that was when it was most peaceful.

Here are some of my pictures from my walks around the lake...

As you can see, it's a beautiful place with lots of amazing wildlife!

I'll be blogging again very soon, as I've got a trip planned for this week. I'll be going abroad... well, sort of! Actually, I'll be spending a day in Cardiff, Wales. It so happens that I'm going to be pretty much confined to my village for the next month, so this trip is a chance to escape for a little bit. My plan is to visit the castle and as many other attractions as I can pack in. It's been a while since I last travelled anywhere, so I'm quite excited!

Sherwood Forest and Edwinstowe

Last month I went to Sherwood Forest. It seems like an obvious place to visit when you live in Nottingham, and as it's my third year here, I thought it was about time that I went!

I've always really liked the story of Robin Hood, especially the BBC TV series and the Disney film with the animals! I even played Maid Marian in the musical version my school did. So it was very cool to see the place where the story took place.

To get to Sherwood Forest, you have to take the bus from Victoria bus station in Nottingham city centre. The journey takes an hour, and is quite twisty and turny - not ideal when you get motion sickness like I do! But on the plus side, it was only £6.50 for a return ticket.

The bus arrives at a visitor centre, where there is a café and shop, as well as some Robin Hood themed decoration.

The forest itself is only a few minutes' walk away.

There are some fun decorations on the trees!

It doesn't take long to reach the main attraction in the forest, the major oak. It is said that Robin Hood and his Merry Men used to hide inside it. However, this is unlikely to be true, because apparently the tree had not yet been planted at the time! But it is still an impressive tree to see.

After looking around the forest, I went to the nearest village, Edwinstowe. It's well known for being the place where Robin Hood and Maid Marian supposedly got married.

There is a very nice statue of them in the centre of the village.

It was really interesting to visit such a historical place, and I'm very glad I finally went.

I don't know when I'll next be posting on this blog, as I don't really have any plans right now other than getting through the last semester of my degree. But hopefully I'll have the chance to do some more travelling soon after graduation!

Wollaton Park

Maybe this place doesn't really count as a "travel adventure" as it's within walking distance of where I live! But over the last couple of weeks, it was the autumn exam period at university, and there weren't any classes. I only had two exams, so I decided to use some of my spare time to explore some of the touristic areas of Nottinghamshire. I'm in my final year now and had never really got round to it before. But as I don't plan on staying here after graduation, it seemed like a good idea to do it now!

The first place I went to was Wollaton Park, the grounds of Wollaton Hall. It's a huge place, with lots of things to see.

Close to the parkside entrance is a large lake. There were lots of ducks, Canadian geese and Egyptian geese hanging out there! I'd like to go back and walk all the way around it at some point.

Then I walked up towards Wollaton Hall. It is really impressive in real life - more like a castle than a stately home. I think I mentioned before on one of my blogs that I have a slight obsession with castles and palaces, so I was excited to see it and take photos!

Next to it is another building, which is almost as impressive!

Inside that building is the Nottingham Industrial Museum (which I might visit in the future), a gift shop and a couple of cafés. There is a really good selection of cakes in the café I went to - I tried the lemon and earl grey one!

After that I went inside Wollaton Hall to visit the Natural History Museum. There is a very large taxidermy collection there, which I found strange but quite fascinating. There were lions, giraffes and leopards among many other creatures. I was interested to see that there was a Humboldt penguin and a Chilean flamingo, which both reminded me of my recent travel adventures in Chile!

There is also a part of the museum which has been preserved to show how the house was in the past, which I enjoyed looking around.

Before going home, I explored a bit more of the grounds of the house.

I had a really nice time exploring Wollaton Park, and it was a good way to escape from university life. It feels like a completely different place to the city of Nottingham. I will definitely go back at least once, given that it's so close.

A week later I travelled further afield in Nottinghamshire, to Sherwood Forest! That was another fun trip, and I'll be writing about it soon. 😊