A Winter Walk Around Wrest

We took a visit to Wrest Park recently - an English Heritage site and one of our regular local haunts throughout the year. It always looks different each time we visit - even if it's the same season. The weather and the sky always help to determine the landscape. 

This day was one of those cold and crisp winter days. It had been glorious when we started off from home, then we drove into mist and fog. When we arrived at Wrest, the fog was still lingering, but the sun was breaking through and came out whilst we were wandering around. 

We explored the beautiful grounds and walked around the moat. The water was icy in places, the plants were resting, but somehow the bare branches of the trees and the remains of the reeds looked spectacular. The birds were out in force as usual. We heard woodpeckers and blackbirds, spotted robins, wrens and thrushes and as always the swans, ducks and geese were enjoying themselves out on the waters. 

It was a bracing walk and afterwards we sat out by the cafe still wrapped up in our coats and scarves and gloves and warmed ourselves up with hot pulled pork sandwiches and lattes. I love to sit outside and enjoy the fresh air even in winter, but even Ted needed to be kept cosy in his coat. 

Fairlands Valley Park

We've had some glorious days this January, an uplifting start to the year to see the winter blue skies and the sun shining. Sometimes we forget about places that are near to us and right under our noses and take them for granted. Places like our local parks and nearby footpaths. Having a dog has set me off exploring places locally again. On Saturday the weather was glorious and we decided to go for an afternoon walk with Ted around Fairlands Valley Park in Stevenage. It's a place quite near to us and when our girls were small we used to live in Stevenage, so we had many enjoyable and memorable visits to this park while they were growing up. 

On a day like Saturday everywhere looked stunning - the sky a deep blue; trees reaching high and looking stark in the sunlight; the lake echoing the colours of the sky, clouds and trees and teaming with wildlife and late afternoon sun touching the grasses and redwoods with its golden glow. 

We spotted comorants - two were resting high in a tree, herons, grebes, moorhens, swans, geese and ducks and Ted was over excited when he spotted a squirrel or two! Yes, even the squirrels popped out of hibernation for a while on this beautiful day.  

A wander along the side of the lake and the sun suddenly dipped and gave us yet another one of those glorious January sunsets we've been having. A perfect pleasure just lingering to watch as dipped lower and lower and looked as though it was dropping from the sky.