I am so happy I am finally getting a chance to write about this! This was my first trip away from home in a long while that was longer than a night! Even though I didn’t leave the country, I did travel to Thatcham, which is a little market town in Berkshire. I visited here for a few days to see my best friend, who I haven’t seen for longer than a day in 2 years. It was such a nice little break from everything, like finishing UNI, and to be able to experience a different surrounding, other than my home town. The feeling of being in a different environment was so relaxing and so new, it was just what I needed. I was away for a total of 4 days. The first day I was travelling up there, which took around 3 hours, travelling by South Eastern Train, London Underground and then Great Western Railway train.
The first place we stopped at on the first day of me being there was at The Nature Discovery Centre. This place was beautiful. I had no clue this place existed before I visited that day. So, I decided to do a little more research into this place for this blog, to help give you a bit more of an insight to what they do. This company is run by The Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust (BBOWT), running solely on volunteering, no government funds being used. They focus on making the importance of nature recovery important, working to inspire the local communities to take action for nature. This specific organisation is currently across three counties, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, and Oxfordshire. They monitor species, looking after more than 80 reserves, working with landowners to create Living Landscapes, running campaigns to save precious habitat and vulnerable species, offering advice to all kinds of people and businesses, and they also put on events and educational programmes to try and reach as many people as they can. To inspire change.
There were so many cute little spots throughout where you could just sit and take in the scenery. Our first little spot we stopped at was a nice opening where you can see down near the water. There was a few ducks hanging around, including one little family which had a month and 5 ducklings. None of them seem to mind that we were there, they were walking around us and going about their own doings. It was so peaceful to just sit there and watch, observing their behaviour, ever noticing a bit of territorial behaviour going on between a duck and the mother of the ducklings. We noticed that so many families walked by us, some with their partners, some with child, and even some with their dogs. We met one of the young pups further along the trail who was learning his obedience but was too excited to come and say hi. We discovered more openings along the way and each one was as peaceful as the other ones, making them all an amazing place to relax. You can find more information about this place and their other nature reserves here https://www.bbowt.org.uk/about
I have included some of the photos that were taken from my time here below.
The second day of my trip here, we spent the afternoon travelling to Worcester to see my best friends University friends and the city. We didn’t do much that day, as we were just travelling and chilling. The most we did when we got there was that we went to McDonalds.
However, the next day, we took a walk into the Worcester city, seeing the Cathedral and exploring the wonderful sights that were around Worcester. The cathedral was beautiful to witness, as are all the cathedrals that are out there. I had never experienced this one so it was a different experience. The entry is free and you are more than welcome to wonder around and discover the beauty of this place. On some days they open the crypt up as well, and we were lucky enough to be able to go down and look around. However, my best friend has been before and the crypt wasn’t open, so please, if the crypt is closed, be respectful and discover the rest of this beautiful place! There is plenty there and there are a lot of plaques for you to read and learn about what each part may have been used for and the history of it! I definitely recommend visiting, it makes a great day out and there is a lovely little grass area around back that makes for a lovely picnic area to rest. You can also look down from that area and see the River Servern that runs through the town. The day we went there, there were a lot of swans, which I soon found out that there is a Swan Sanctuary in the heart of Worcester. I looked into the protection of the swans a bit more, and I learnt that fishing is banned and that the swans are actually protected by both the council and the volunteer led ‘Swan Food Project’. There isn’t actually any natural food for the swans to eat in Worcester, so they rely on the people of Worcester and visitors to feed them. This is done by a local voluntary project that you can get small handy bags of pellets for the swans, and these are sold in multiple different shops around Worcester. You can find more information on this here https://www.discoverworcestershire.co.uk/listing/worcester-swans/
The same day as walking around Worcester city, we also headed back to Thatcham, which ended in a nice chill evening as I was heading back home the next day. It was so nice to be able to get away and to be able to see my best friend again was an amazing few days.
I am going away again in a couple of weeks, so look out for another blog then! I am travelling to two places, so hopefully, there will be two blogs to come! Feel free to follow me on Social Media to see any updates to come!
Aimée Vaughan 