February 2026 Travel Adventures: Virginia Water Lake and Royal Holloway University

February has been a month in which we've had the opportunity to explore some more of the area near where we live. Living in Reading, our quickest way to get to London is the fast train to Paddington, but there's also a slower train that goes to Waterloo, stopping in Richmond and Clapham, as well as various places in Berkshire and Surrey. We've found that this route has some interesting areas to explore; for example, the Lexicon in Bracknell is now my favourite place for shopping trips, and Wokingham is an attractive town we've enjoyed visiting. 

In February, we've explored a few new places on the route: Sunningdale, Virginia Water and Egham, and found some beautiful nature, stunning architecture, and (to Claudio's delight), plenty of nice cars!

Virginia Water Lake

This is a place I remember reading about some years ago (maybe during the pandemic) and which I'd kept in mind to visit for when I'd live closer to London. Recently I realised that now was the moment to finally go!

Google Maps recommended that I take the train to Sunningdale and then take a bus to the lake from the stop outside the Rolls-Royce dealership. Unfortunately, although the bus appeared at the time it was supposed to, it did not stop for some reason. Given that the next bus was three hours later (and was supposedly leaving from the same stop), waiting wasn't an option. So I walked further into the town to get a coffee and think about what to do next.

Despite the inconvenience, it was nice to see more of the picturesque town. I also noticed that there was a dealership selling Koenigseggs, which of course I told Claudio about later!

Eventually, I decided that, after coming this far, I wanted to get to the destination I'd planned to visit. So I took an Uber over to the lake. It was a short but interesting journey, going past various mansions.

Finally, I arrived at Virginia Water Lake! Even though it was raining a little bit, the lake looked absolutely beautiful. It's so big that it almost makes you feel like you're next to the sea rather than at a lake.

However, there is much more to Virginia Water Lake than just the lake itself. There are actually a few interesting surprises you can find when walking around the area. The first one I discovered was the cascade, which is tucked away in a little wooded area. Though it's artificial, it's still amazing to spend a while in front of it, watching and listening to the rushing water.

The next surprise is a complete set of Roman ruins, like a smaller version of the Forum in Rome. It's quite unexpected to find it there next to a lake near London! I assumed that the forum had been built there during the Roman era, but I looked it up later and discovered that the ruins had been brought over from the site of Leptis Magna, which is in Libya.

I then walked back the way I'd came and continued walking until I reached a treasure from the other side of the world: a totem pole made by an indigenous community in Canada. I was lucky to have the opportunity to see it, as the information signs nearby said it was due to be pulled down.

I went back home after my walk by taking the train from the Virginia Water Station, which is about a 25-minute walk away from the lake. It's a nice walk past lots of fancy houses, and I'd definitely recommend just going to and from that station if you're going to the lake by public transport rather than attempting to take the bus from Sunningdale!

I actually went back to the lake a few days later with Claudio, as it was a sunny Saturday and I wanted to show him all the interesting sights I'd enjoyed seeing. Although the café area at the entrance was busy, the lake itself was pretty peaceful. There were various families and couples there enjoying the nice weather, but it wasn't at all crowded. We had a great time walking around the lake with a hot chocolate from the café, seeing the sights and admiring the dogs and swans.

We absolutely plan to come back in the future, and would like to do a circuit of the entire lake once we have a car (and therefore don't have to do the long walk to and from the train station).

Egham, Royal Holloway University and Sunningdale

I went to Egham on my own once in February, in order to visit the Runnymede National Trust site, a trip I wrote about in my previous post. I mentioned in that post that I'd been really impressed with the Royal Holloway University's main building, which I'd passed on the bus on my way to Runnymede.

So I came back to Egham with Claudio that weekend in order to visit it properly!

We decided to walk up to the university from Egham, in order to see a bit more of the town, which we liked a lot. We walked past Strode's College, which is a very grand-looking sixth form college.

En route, we stopped at the Ferrari dealership, which of course Claudio loved! We had a good look round at the beautiful cars and had a comfort break in an incredibly posh bathroom!

After walking up a steep hill and through the university campus, we finally arrived at the Founder's Building, which is the building I'd seen from the bus previously. It's absolutely incredible to see - so huge and elaborate. It was actually inspired by the Château de Chambord in France and looks like something out of a fairytale. 

It even has its own little chapel, an elaborately decorated space that is perfect for a moment of reflection.

We noticed that the university's library had a rooftop terrace and decided to go inside in the hopes of getting up to the terrace. Shortly after entering the building, we had the luck to meet a lovely little orange cat. He was so friendly and cute, and I felt very honoured that he decided to sit on my coat! I later found an Instagram page about the cats of Royal Holloway and found out that his name is Cheese!

We then went up to the roof terrace and were surprised to find that we had pretty clear views from there right across to London! We could see planes taking off from Heathrow, Wembley Stadium, the City, the Shard and even Canary Wharf in the distance.

The terrace also offered great views of the Founder's Building below.

After saying goodbye to a sleepy Cheese, we made our way back to Egham for a coffee.

We stopped off at Sunningdale on the way back, because I'd told Claudio about the fancy car dealerships that I'd seen there previously. So my misfortune with the bus actually came in somewhat useful in the end! The dealership where the Koenigseggs had been on my previous visit had actually moved to a much bigger location with many more supercars on display, so Claudio was very happy!

To sum up, these two destinations (Virginia Water Lake and Royal Holloway University) are actually two of my favourite places that I've visited in recent months. I love seeing places of natural beauty as well as stunning architecture, so both of these places really appealed to me.

I'll be writing again soon about some of the interesting places we've explored in March! See you back here then!

A Nostalgic Weekend in Nottingham

After a few fun but hectic weekends spent in central London, Claudio and I had a much more peaceful August bank holiday weekend, spending a couple of days at my old university, the University of Nottingham.

Back in July, we'd visited the university campus here in Reading, which Claudio was very impressed with, as they don't have those kinds of campuses in Chile. I told him that the Nottingham campus is even more impressive, and that made him want to visit it as soon as possible. I also wanted to go back myself, because I hadn't been there for six years, as hard as that is to believe!

Back when I was studying there, my parents always used to stay at the Orchard Hotel, which is located right on the campus, and I used to enjoy meeting them there for breakfast or a coffee. So it made total sense for us to choose it to be our base for the weekend!

On the Sunday morning, we made our way over to St Pancras International, which is always exciting to pass through, whether or not you're travelling abroad.

After a couple of hours in the train, we arrived in Nottingham city centre. We decided to head over to the campus straight away and used the quickest and most enjoyable way to get there - the tram! It reminded us of trips we'd taken to Stockholm and Amsterdam.

We got off the train at University Boulevard and made a little detour on our way to the university, stopping off for a look around Broadgate Park. This is a private student residence just outside the West Entrance and is where I lived in my final year at Nottingham. I had a tiny studio flat there, which was definitely my favourite place out of the three places I lived during my time there.

We then entered the university and passed by Cavendish Hall, where I lived during first year. To be honest, this is one of the scrubbiest-looking buildings on campus, and it wasn't much better on the inside either!

Next we visited one of my favourite places on campus: the David Ross Sports Village. During my first year, the sports centre had been located in a sort of tent-like structure, but in my second year the shiny and modern David Ross Sports Village was opened. I used to go there at least twice a week to go to the gym or take fitness classes, and always felt inspired and motivated by all the facilities the centre has. Looking around the building made Claudio wish that he'd had the chance to do a semester or year abroad in Nottingham!

Just across the road is the Orchard Hotel, so we went there to check in. Although I'd been there to visit my parents several times, it was my first time actually staying there. It's a really nice hotel and staying there made our time in Nottingham extra enjoyable - it definitely beat my old student accommodation!

After getting settled in, we went out to explore more of the campus. The campus is absolutely one of the main reasons why I chose to study at Nottingham - it's so green and pretty, and is full of bunny rabbits hopping around!

My favourite part of the campus was always Highfields Park, with its beautiful lake. I always liked the café next to it at Lakeside Arts, so we stopped there to fuel up with coffee and cake before walking around the entire lake. With lots of animals, plenty of trees, great views of the Trent Building, an island and even a little waterfall, it's a great place to spend half an hour or so.

The next place we explored was the science area of the campus. Even though my degree was in modern languages, I had classes in nearly every building on campus, including this area, because my degree (three languages with one ab initio) involved a lot more contact hours than average. I enjoyed having classes in the grand, classic buildings in the arts area, like the Trent Building and the Law and Social Science building, but it was also nice to study in the modern, space age-y science buildings. I used to spend a lot of time in the George Green library back in my second year, when I lived near that part of the campus, and I sometimes went there on weekends in my third year, although I lived further away, because I liked feeling like I was studying in a space ship!

We then left campus and passed Queen's Medical Centre to go to the neighbourhood of Dunkirk, where I'd shared a house during my second year. Claudio had been super impressed by everything he'd seen in Nottingham up to this point, but even he had to admit that this house and its street were a bit depressing! 

Returning to campus, we visited the arts library, the Hallward Library. I always thought this was quite an ugly building compared to the "space ship" that is the George Green Library. However, the inside is super nice and cosy. We were actually able to go in and look around it, and Claudio was really impressed by all the facilities the place has, including the interpretation suite, where I used to have some of my classes (though I never had the chance to actually use the interpretation equipment!). I used to spend a lot of time studying in Hallward between classes, and I miss it a lot - nowadays, I often go to work in my local library during my home office days, and it's nowhere near as pleasant and comfy!

Afterwards, we went to discover the "secret gardens" that can be found nearby on campus. The first one is in front of the Hugh Stewart hall of residence, which looks rather like Hogwarts! I remember visiting it on an open day, and then later being disappointed that my own hall of residence didn't look like it!

We also visited the tranquil walled garden near the back of the Trent Building...

...and the Millennium Garden around the back of the Law and Social Science building.

After all this walking, we were pretty hungry and so we decided to get the tram back into the city centre to find something to eat. Of course, we had to take the time to see the castle and the Robin Hood statue!

Our next stop was another iconic Nottingham sight: Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem pub. This is apparently the oldest pub in England, and I had never actually been inside it before, so it was a must-visit as part of our trip! I'm now glad to have finally been, as the inside of the pub is really cool - like being inside a cave, and the food and drink was also very good.

We finished our evening with a walk round the main square, Old Market Square, while waiting for the tram back to the university. This area of the city has grand architecture that reminded us a bit of Belgium. It was also fun to see that they'd made part of the square into a beach for the summer!

We got back to the hotel and were lucky enough to meet a lovely kitty in the car park!

We had a good night's sleep in the hotel, which was very clean and comfortable. The stay was also really good value, costing us around £75. We also decided to add breakfast to our stay, which was £13.50 each when we booked the previous day. I feel like that was a good price considering it was a buffet, and we definitely made the most of it!

After breakfast, we were packing up and getting ready to check out, when the fire alarm went off. We all had to go and wait around outside, which took about 30-60 minutes out of our day, but these things happen!

Once we were free to go, we checked out, leaving our overnight bag in reception and headed off to Wollaton Park, where we spent a good couple of hours. It was lovely to walk around the lake and the park, seeing the beautiful deer and the grand house, which is more like a palace. I was sure I could remember reading that it had been used in a movie and checked it on the internet to find out that it was one of the Batman movies. After hearing that, Claudio was suddenly very excited to be there!

After coming back to campus, we crossed the Downs, a big open green space. I remember once crossing it when it was completely covered with frost!

We then passed by Cripps Hall, the other Hogwarts-style hall of residence.

The final sight we went to see on campus was the Nottingham sign! We also found another little garden nearby.

After picking up our bag from the hotel, we got the tram into town and went to find some lunch.

I always had a mixed opinion of Nottingham city centre - some of it looks quite run down and scrubby, but there are also some architectural gems. One of those is the Theatre Royal, which I think is one of the most beautiful theatres I've seen outside of London. Of course, we had to stop by to take a photo!

We had wanted to go inside the castle, but unfortunately, by the time we got there, the gates were already closed. (We blame the fire drill!) So, we had a walk around, trying to get a good view of it from different points of the city. In the end, we found quite a good viewpoint near the train station.

By this point, it was getting late, and it was time for us to get the train back down to London.

Fortunately, we got a great view of the castle as we sped away from Nottingham!

Overall, it had been a great couple of days in my old city. It was a bit of a strange feeling to be back in the places that I'd spent time in or walked through on a daily or weekly basis for three years of my life, but which I hadn't set foot in for six years. I was surprised to find that I liked the city a lot more than I remembered - my university years were quite difficult at times, and that probably affected my opinion of the place. 

Sometimes, I feel like I would regret having made the decision to go to university, if it weren't for the fact that it gave me the opportunity to go on my Year Abroad, which was one of the best and most exciting years of my life, and led me to meet Claudio. Being back in Nottingham again made me feel grateful that everything turned out the way it did.

I also really enjoyed having the chance to be on the campus during the summer holidays and to see it in a quieter moment. It was very peaceful and relaxing to be able to walk around and sit in its green spaces with very few people around, especially after spending several weekends in the chaos of London over July and August. It actually left me wanting to return in the Christmas holidays, to see the campus in its winter wonderland form. Maybe we won't be back there this winter coming, but I'm sure it will be less than six years before we next return to Nottingham!