My fitness coach and friend recently recommended a couple of places near Nottingham to take my parents to visit, one of them being Wollaton Hall.
Wollaton Hall is a historical and a beautiful stately home. We were drawn here in particular because of the massive acres of parkland, pretty gardens, lake and obviously the beautiful estate.
Built in 1588, the hall is grade I listed and has 500 acres of parkland. Wollaton Park is home to two herds of deer, 90 Red and 120 Fallow deer, that roaming free among the people. On our visit we saw both types of deer: the red deer were in small groups in the main park mostly lying under the trees and the fallow deer tucked away in a large group in the Deer conservation area. Parents were letting young children get very close the larger red deer which I did not think was a wise idea; any creature is unpredictable and deer are known to butt.
Wollaton Hall is an Elizabethan country house of the 1580s standing on a small but prominent hill in the centre of Wollaton Park. The house is now Nottingham’s Natural History Museum, with Nottingham Industrial Museum in the out-buildings.
I’m going to do another blog about my experience at the Natural History Museum in the Hall. I was expecting fossils, minerals and plants, however we were presented with room after room of taxidermy.
Before we started walking, we stopped at the cafe in the courtyard for a coffee and drink. We sat outside with the sun shining through the buildings.
Luckily the sun was shining the entire day, it was warm and I even got sunburnt on my forearms and back of the neck. I now have a lovely white mark between the red where my watch was. The sun made the walk around the grounds lovely and picturesque. There is so much natural beauty to absorb: the lake in the centre is surrounded by greenery, trees, woodland and botanical gardens. I found that the open grounds were perfect place for a relaxing outing.
The grounds are so much larger than I expected them to be. We took a picnic and sat on the grass very few people near despite the park being busy. We watched the dear roaming as we ate.
We all had such a lovely day and will definitely be going back again. I would definitely recommend taking a trip to the grounds if you live near Nottingham.
Rachel
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