I
was reading Sian’s post on Monday where she said that she had visited a
beach close to home for the first time and wondered why it had taken
her so long to do so. We have been wondering the same thing about places
local to us that we
are only just getting around to visiting although we have lived in the
area for 25 years this August!
This
past Bank Holiday weekend, after doing gardening on Friday and clearing
out the filing cabinet on Saturday, we decided to visit Langdon Hills
Nature Reserve for a walk on Easter Sunday morning. The reserve is just
15 minutes drive
away from Wickford and set in 461 acres which comprises woodland,
meadows, lakes and former plotland gardens. There are beautiful wildlife
gardens and a museum of Plotland Life (which unfortunately wasn’t open
when we were there – a good excuse to go back!).
We
arrived at 10.30am thinking that it wouldn’t be too busy – wrong! It
was extremely busy with lots of families taking part in the Easter egg
hunt which they had going on. However, once away from the main car park
(free to park) the crowds
spread out and although we encountered other families as we walked
around it never felt crowded. The reserve also has a Peter Rabbit
Woodland Trail. You can purchase a map to follow to find all the
sculptures, or you can just wander like we did! There are
six solid wood sculptures of Potter characters, placed along an
all-weather path (which means it is suitable for pushchairs and
wheelchairs) and we found them all and took SO many photos!
Actually, we
didn’t find them all the first time we went around and
ending up buying the map so that we could find the 2 we had missed.
The reserve is beautiful and on a sunny day, which it was when we went,
perfect for wandering around and you could spend a lot longer there than
we did.
We found the museum of Plotland life
on our walk but unfortunately it didn’t open until later in the day.
The museum is in one of the old plotland houses and although it was shut
we were able to peer into the windows at the back and read some of the
information about the plotlands which was fascinating.
We bought the Plotland trail guide just as we were leaving so that we
can do that on another day too. If you want to find out more about the
Plotlands click
here.
The
facilities include a shop, tea room, activity centre for the children,
play area and toilets. The only facilities we used were the toilets
which were fine! The shop was quite well stocked with trail leaflets,
bits and pieces to buy
from the Essex Wildlife Trust and sweets and drinks. In the tea room
area there was a second hand book section raising money for the Essex
Wildlife Trust.
As
a family of 3 adults we had a great time on our walk and I would highly
recommend a visit if you are in the area. We will definitely be going
back to do the Plotlands trail and to visit the museum.
4 comments:
You're quite the travel writer! You have me wanting to take a trip now. I know I said it last week, but it's worth repeating: I think this is a lovely way to do a post, with your story about your trip and then info about the place too.
That sounds like a really magical place that I'd love to visit! x
What fun, with all those sculptures to locate and enjoy - I can see why you took so many photos :). Great to get an insight into another area of the country.
Isn't it interesting how different trips are with all adults in the family, rather than toddlers or teens? I'm really enjoying the difference.
This looks interesting and I may have to convince Wookie to take a detour one of our trips into Essex.
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