GET OUTDOORS!
Enjoy the great outdoors with the children! There is always something different to see, and it’s happy, healthy time spent together. Here are a few local suggestions of outdoor places to visit.
National Trust walks Greys Court, Rotherfield Greys, Henley-on-Thames, RG9 4PG, www.nationaltrust.org.uk/greyscourt/features/explore-the-estateat-greys-court This is a National Trust property with a two-mile walk in its grounds. The walk is easily followed as it’s waymarked by red arrows. You can ask at visitor reception where to start. You’ll walk through woodland with beech leaves clinging on to branches, ancient gnarled oaks and cherry trees. Look out for veteran trees with broken branches and holes where birds, squirrels and dormice might be nesting. You’ll walk rolling Chiltern hills with restful views and farmland with grazing animals, so please
keep dogs on leads. Head back to Greys Court for a hot chocolate or lunch in the Cow Shed tea room. Simons Wood, Finchampstead, Wokingham, www.nationaltrust.org.uk/runnyme de/trails/simons-wood-centenarywalk-at-runnymede This is a 1.3-mile walk along welldefined paths, which are suitable for buggies. The walk winds through tall trees that feel like a big exciting forest to children, with the reassurance to parents of wide paths and a well way-marked route. The green trail arrows lead you through to Heath Pool, a big pond covered with lily pads and a small island in the middle colonised by ducks and geese.
There’s a boardwalk over an area of lowland heath – an important habitat where you might hear nightjars or Dartford warblers. Basildon Park, Lower Basildon, Reading, RG8 9NR, www.nationaltrust.org/basildonpark This is a traditional country house with extensive parkland. It has four, well-marked trails, ranging from 0.5 to 3 miles in length, along easy terrain. As you weave in and out of the woodland on the parkland walks at Basildon Park, you get regular views back to the elegant Palladian façade of the house. You can get a decent walk in the 400 acres of
Geocaching
Lardon Chase (National Trust car park): Grid reference SU583806, www.nationaltrust.org.uk/basildon -park/trails/streatleys-chalkgrasslands-and-countryside-trail This is quite a challenging 7-mile walk with beautiful views over Streatley and the Goring Gap. It takes in three adjacent areas of National Trust land: Lardon Chase, the Holies and Lough Down. Parts of the area were once used as a motorbike scrambling course, but the habitat has gradually been restored, and now it forms one of the largest remaining areas of chalk grassland in the country.
www.geocaching.com
Have you tried this yet? The geocaching website calls this activity “the world’s largest treasure hunt”, discovering hidden caches in all sorts of weird and wonderful spots, using GPS. It really adds a sense of purpose and extra excitement to a walk, and it can become quite 16 • Bracknell • Henley • Reading • West Berkshire • Wokingham
parkland, but genuinely feel like you’re strolling in the grounds.
addictive trying to find the hidden “treasure” wherever you go. You can start with a free account to get a feel for geocaching and to see if it suits you.
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