Wollaton Park - And
Through The Village
w/e 09 February
2003
In the final stage of one of Malcolm Sales' "100
Walks In Nottinghamshire", a compilation published by the
Crowood Press, we move out of the park to pass through the village
itself.
Crossing the brick bridge over a dry ditch, we turned left and
headed for a wooden gate as described in Malcom Sales' book.
Unfortunately we should NOT have crossed the bridge before turning
but had we not done so, we probably would not have caught sight
of these two stags across the ditch, part of the herd of red
deer for which the park is well-known.
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Our mistake was soon rectified and we picked up the route again
after our detour, passing through a patch of boggy ground, to
leave the park and reach the residential road of Parkside (inset).
A right turn led us to Bramcote Lane where a small cemetery is
worth a return visit in another season to enjoy the rose garden
that lies within.
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Time was against us on this occasion though, so we headed straight
up Bramcote Lane to the centre of Wollaton. The old village water
pump is now located in a shelter in the middle of a traffic island
opposite the Admiral Rodney Public House.
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Another right turn took us past St Leonard's Church back towards
the park.
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Entering Wollaton Park again via a small pedestrian gate brought
us close to the rest of the deer that reside there. I was quite
surprised by the numbers. I was expecting to see 20 or 25 but
there were at least twice as many and probably even more. The
angle of the low sun made a good photo of the deer difficult
but this is the best of several that I took.
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Concluding our walk we headed back towards the car park with
one last look up the hill towards the Wollaton Hall. The Elizabethan
hall built by Sir Francis Willoughby was completed in 1588 and
purchased by Nottingham City Council in 1925.
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