Backyard Travel – What is on your Doorstep?
I love living in Dorset as we are just a few minutes from the beach, New Forest and spectacular countryside that stretches as far as the eye can see.
We are often out and about exploring everything our county has to offer, but what is on our doorstep?
We live in a semi-rural location, with farmland that joins onto the side of the school field and are often greeted by horses on the school run, but as we are not dog walkers we have only taken a stroll up the path that leads onto Canford Heath a handful of times, despite being just a few minute walk from our house.
Yesterday I decided to take Sebastian up there to see what we could find as Canford Heath is one of the largest remaining areas of heathland in Dorset retaining the atmosphere of a wilderness. The area is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest and is protected because the of the special wildlife which includes all the British reptile species and rare birds such as the Dartford Warbler and Nightjar. Wetter areas provide a home for a range of dragonflies and special plants adapted to the wet conditions.
I cannot pretend we saw any special wildlife as we didn’t get very far onto the heath, although we did hear some woodpeckers drumming on the trees. Sebastian was excited to see the horses in the field as we walked past as they came over to say hello.
I was keen to head further onto the Heath but Sebastian had other ideas, preferring to head into the woods where he struggled to decide which stick would be best for him to carry.
It was lovely spending time exploring and seeing what we could find. Sebastian was especially fascinated by a fallen tree and a squirrel that kept coming over to see what we were up to.
We spent a good couple of hours exploring, digging holes with our sticks and watching the nesting birds. Next time I am going to take the kids up there on our bikes as there are nice wide tracks to cycle on and see how more more of the heath we can explore.
Do you have an interesting place to visit on your doorstep?
Alana
Oh that looks lovely! I lived in Dorset for a little while and there are so many pretty places to visit. It’s always nice when you don’t have to travel far too.
Sarah @theparentingtrials
Looks like a fantastic place, your very lucky to have it near you. Lots of exploring to be done, my kids would love it xx
Dean of Little Steps
That looks like a lovely place to visit. I haven’t heard of Canford Heath, but I’m putting this away for future reference especially since we love Dorset. x
Mark
I’ve always wanted to live somewhere more rural, then a few weeks ago I discovered we have somewhere called ‘the meadows’ a short walk away which apparently is a wildlife reserve. Five years I’ve lived here, never even knew.
So that’s where we’re heading this weekend, weather permitting. If nothing else it’ll make a nice change from the same park we go to week in week out.
Joanna
We have lovely places to go to like this. The only thing I find is that I don’t drive so it’s hard to get to them :(. We love going out for walks though and make most of the places we can get to via foot.
Leah Miller
Ah, you are on the other side of the New Forest to us! It really is a beautiful area, we are very lucky to live in a rural part of the country! It looks like Sebastian had a great time! x
tots2travel
What a lovely place to have on your doorstep but kids are fab, wherever you live, town or country, they’ll find adventure and see the world in a way we never could.
Tori Gabriel
Oh, you are so lucky! I love the New Forest. I live on the South East coast just minutes from the beach and I feel very fortunate but I wish we had a nice forest near-by.
marie
This looks and sound lovely, we have lots of parks around where we live in lancashire and we live about an hours drive from the lakes ao plenty of places for us to visit.
Jenni
I love venturing outside. We live close to wide open spaces and I can’t wait for Lucas to be old enough to get some wellies on and explore with us x
Coombe Mill - Fiona Cambouropoulos
Nothing like somewhere fun to explore on the doorstep. It sounds like there is lots of potential here for some fun days out and I bet picnics in the summer would be lovely too. Sebastian looks very happy with his stick choice and fallen trees on this visit. Bodmin Moor is our local exploring ground, it is easily cycle-able from Coombe Mill and plenty of interesting areas to explore up there. I look forward to hearing more about the heath over the coming season. Thank you for joining me for #CountryKids
Grant R
How brilliant to have something so close, and that the weather is finally nice enough to enjoy it!
Rachel
We have a few lovely parks locally, both really beautiful x
Raffa
Sebastian looks like he’s having a great time! I live in a city area but would be brilliant to have something so close!
Fi Ni neachtain
I think it’s fantastic that where you live offers you the beach but the countryside to explore too, our island is the same. I love that the heath you visited has that atmosphere of wilderness to explore 🙂
Jane Blake
Love going to one of the big parks,Bushey Park and Richmond Park are our favourites as you have the deers just wandering around and will come right up close to you,another favourite is Nonsuch Park