For Christmas I was lucky enough to get a book of Britain and Ireland’s Best Wild Places. (Anyone who wants to explore and find their own wild and abandoned places like me and my merry band of loiterers, should buy this book. Christopher Somerville has a brilliant writing style that even made my Gran want to get out there and explore!) So, whilst visiting my grandparents in a small village near Nottingham, we thought it would be the perfect time to get outside and explore one of the conveniently nearby ‘Wild Places’: Hoveringham Gravel Pits.
These were enormous basins dug to extract gravel for making concrete. Since they have been disused, they have filled with water. To the unsuspecting passer-by, they now look like placid lakes. In the snow, surrounded by rushes and with the huge orange wintry sun setting it was one of the most picturesque sites imaginable. The quiet escape from roads and the opportunity for bird spotting was well worth the easy walk to get there.
Comments