Stanton Country Park

I went travelling today! Well, sort of. This trip was the furthest I've travelled from home since the middle of March, and it was to a place I'd never been to before, which I guess is the closest thing you can get to going travelling in these strange times we're living through.

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.

Cirencester, Including the Abbey Grounds Park

I'm back travel blogging again after a two month absence, as the UK lockdown was eased slightly last week, and it's now possible to drive to local places for outdoor exercise. The more lenient rules meant that I could go for a (socially-distanced!) walk in the Abbey Grounds Park in Cirencester, a town near where I live. I'd walked there before, but this time was very different, because it was a real experience of freedom after so many weeks of being stuck in my small village. It was lovely to have a long walk taking in all the sights and sounds of the nature there, and then to sit on a bench and read a book for a while, after a long period where these small things were off limits. I also really enjoyed taking lots of pictures, travel photography being one of many things I've missed during the quarantine.

Cirencester in general is a very touristic and picturesque town. So, I feel like this post is a good opportunity to show a few more photos I've taken there at various points over the last couple of years.

One of the nicest things about Cirencester are the colourful hare sculptures that can be found all over the town. They've been there for several years now, and two of them are included in my pictures above.

But I think my favourite part of the town has to be the castle, which can be seen from Cirencester Park and Cirencester Open Air Pool.

The pool is an amazing place that I'm really looking forward to going back to in the future.

I'm very glad that now we have this little bit of extra freedom. However, I can hardly wait for life to return to normal. I've really missed travelling over the last two months. Obviously I want to get back to Chile and start my job as soon as possible, but even to be able to go on a proper day trip within the UK would be amazing. For now though, local outdoor areas are the best thing on offer. I hope to do some more little trips like this one soon.

Goodbye for Now

After our trip to Jubilee Lake yesterday, my family and I have decided not to go on any more outings, due to the pandemic. Although there weren't many people at the lake, there have been cases of other outdoor areas in the UK being crowded with visitors, meaning that social distancing isn't possible. So the safest thing for now is just to stay at home.

I had hoped to be living and working in Chile within the next couple of months, and my boyfriend and I were planning to go on a trip in June for his birthday and our second anniversary. That obviously won't be happening now, which is very disappointing. But I am lucky that my family and friends are all healthy, and that although my working hours have decreased quite a bit, I still have an online job. Many people are going through far worse at the moment.

This is a travel blog, and as travelling is no longer possible, I won't be writing here again until the situation improves, whenever that may be. But it's good to remember that we can still explore the world from our own homes, whether that's by learning foreign languages, cooking recipes from different countries, or enjoying books and films about different parts of the world. At the moment, I'm learning Portuguese and Russian on Duolingo, and reading a book from Ann Cleeves's Shetland Islands series. I'm trying to see this extra time at home as an opportunity for learning and catching up on books.

Thank you to everyone who's read this blog over the last year and a half, and I hope you all stay safe and healthy.

See you soon!

Charlotte 💜

Image by Bruno Cervera from pexels.com

Jubilee Lake

This morning, a medical expert on Radio 4 said that it was still fine to visit areas such as parks, provided that we maintain a distance of at least two metres from other people. So my parents and I decided to have a walk at Jubilee Lake near Wootton Bassett. It's not that far from where we live, but we'd never got round to going before. Luckily, there weren't too many other visitors, so it was safe to be there. It was a really nice and tranquil place to walk around.

This may have been our last outing for a long time, as sadly, I've heard that in Italy, even parks have been shut. Here in the UK, the National Trust announced today that the grounds of their properties are now closed, so maybe it won't be long until we're in a similar situation to Italy. It's a depressing thought, but if that's what it takes to stop this virus, then it must be done...

A Day Out in Oxford + What Will Be Coming Next From My Blog...

Last week my family and I had a day out in Oxford. Then over the following few days, things changed so much regarding the coronavirus situation. Now most recreational travel, even within the UK, is something that is not advisable. So, I'm happy that we were able to have a final excursion, as it'll probably be a while before we can have another one.

Oxford is a beautiful city to look around, and I really enjoyed taking pictures of many of the old buildings.

We had a browse around Blackwells, a bookshop that occupies multiple floors, and had lunch at the Banana Tree, a southeast Asian restaurant with plenty of vegan options. Obviously it'll be a while before any of us go to a restaurant again, so I'm glad that the food there was really good!

Then we had a look around the Westgate centre, a very shiny and modern shopping centre in the middle of the city.

Finally, we went to see the castle, which in the past was actually used as a prison. As I've mentioned before, I'm a bit obsessed with castles, and this one (and the area surrounding it) didn't disappoint!

So that concludes my posts about three weeks filled with travel, which will most likely be followed by a few months of very little travel. Now, it seems like I shouldn't have been out and about as much as I was, but I had no idea that the situation would be as severe as it is now. I have to say that I'm very thankful that I was able to go to South America and see my boyfriend so recently, as everything's so uncertain now that I really don't know when I'll be able to go back and start my job there.

All of our lifestyles are changing so much right now, and it's no longer possible to do things that we took for granted before. For obvious reasons, the foreseeable future doesn't look very bright for travel blogging! I know I'm at my happiest when I'm spending a day at the beach or discovering a new city, but these things will have to wait.

The good news is that there are still travel experiences open to many of us. The key is to focus on the great outdoors and on areas that are within walking or driving distance. Parks and nature reserves are good options, and the National Trust have announced that the grounds of their properties are open, even though the buildings themselves are now closed. So we still have the chance to see some grand manors and castles from the outside and explore the surrounding countryside. My parents and I plan to do some National Trust trips over the coming weeks, which I'll blog about here.

This morning, we went for a walk at the Cotswold Country Park and Beach, a place which I blogged about in January. Going there is probably the closest thing I can get to going to a tropical beach at the moment, so I do appreciate it! It was definitely nice to be out getting some fresh air - I think it's really important to get outside and spend time in nature when possible, especially at the moment. And that's the sort of travel adventures I'll be having for the time being!

Check out a more detailed post that I wrote about Oxford here!