By: Blonde One
I’m very lucky to be surrounded by beautiful natural landscapes. 20 minutes to the east is Teignmouth beach and 20 minutes north west is Dartmoor. Closer still is Stover Country Park, just 5 minutes down the road. I’ve been going there a lot recently, perhaps because of the nicer weather.
It’s got everything that you could need for a peaceful and enjoyable day out: lakeside walks, visitor and information centre, toilets, car parking, bird watching hides, cycle routes, wildlife in abundance, peace, picnic benches, information boards, an ice cream van (sometimes) and a poetry trail.
The Ted Hughes poetry trail was the reason that I went a few weeks ago with a very lovely small group of older teenage young ladies. They have been fervently studying pastoral poetry and we went to read some more pastoral poetry in situ. They enjoyed feeding the “shilly-shallying” ducks (Norman MacCaig) and walking around the lake. It was another example (not that we need it) of how much better learning outside of the classroom is.
When I started teaching, if we got a lovely sunny afternoon, I could make a last minute decision to take my class out for a nature ramble around the village byways and lanes and look at lovely wild flowers, butterflies, birds, trees – – but today I would need a parent per x number of children (to be arranged in advance and do they need to be vetted first?) – – and a risk assessment, a comprehensive first aid kit, water for emergencies, etc. etc. So sad.