When someone happens across an arsenic mine on their land they probably don’t react with “oh that sounds like a great place to visit! Lets build a series of public walking and trails through it!”. Nevertheless, that is what Tamar Trails have done, turning the once poisonous arsenic mines of the Tamar Valley into a walking, mountain biking and general…
As a followup to my first wild camping post ‘How to wild camp: Mentality’ I thought it would be a good idea to focus in on what not only makes a good wild camping spot, but that perfect one that you will remember for years to come. Finding the perfect wild camp spot can be a highlight of the trip…
Bubbenhall Wood & Meadows, Old Nun Wood, Wappenbury, and Ryton Pools & Wood all border on each other and form part of the Dunsmore Living Landscape project. A National Heritage funded project to restore important wildlife habitats between Leamington, Rugby and Coventry. The reserves are interconnected and it is easy to follow the footpaths between each one, though they are…
In my experience you have wild camping, which I define as camping in the wilderness, such as in the mountains or off the beaten track in woodland. As a subset of wild camping there is ‘free (wild) camping’ which is camping where ever you feel like, from public parks to farmers fields. Enough experience wild camping naturally leads overcoming the…
The nature reserves in the Ryton area have quickly become my favourite over the past year. Ryton Pools and Wood, Bubbenhall Wood and Meadows, Old Nun Wood and Wappenbury all border on each other and form part of the Dunsmore Living Landscape project. A National Heritage funded project to restore important wildlife habitats between Leamington, Rugby and Coventry. The reserves…
Skipwith Common is a National Nature Reserve and SSSI near York and one of the last remaining areas of northern lowland heath in England. Most of the valley around York was once lowland heath but now only three sites remain. Skipworth Common covers 270 hectares and is a beautiful mix of open heath, birch woodland and murky ponds. This location…
The previous clay modelling post in May: Modelling with Garden Clay. I once again visited family in Hampshire, and this time took extra care when digging the hole for clay. In my previous attempt I contaminated the clay with soil and so went through a process of washing it. This time I kept it as clean as possible and so didn’t…
I discovered this Warwickshire Wildlife Trust (WWT) nature reserve whilst on the hunt for a good source of blackberries. I’ve been going through a bit of a apple crumble phase and the one thing that improves apple crumble is a handful of blackberries. Over the summer I’ve been trying to see as many of the WWT reserves as possible and…
We started at Eylie in the Biros Valley for our second wild camping walk in the Pyrenees. The day before consisted of close monitoring of the weather forecast to ensure that it was worth while climbing up into the mountains. The next day was forecast drizzle but the day after it said “a glorious sunny day”. We decided it was…
I recently visited Swithland Wood SSSI (a nature reserve designated as being of particularly special scientific interest) on the way back to Warwick from a work trip. I put the route into Google maps and hunted along it for a good stretch of woodland to spend a couple of hours walking. After 10 minutes I found Bradgate Park country park,…