Mushrooms add magic to our autumn walks

We love our countryside walks – we find them restorative and uplifting. In fact, the abundance of paths and trails on the doorstep was a big factor when deciding to buy this new house. Each season has its own charms… and now it’s the turn of autumn. Misty mornings, stunning leaf colours, fruits, berries and of course, mushrooms.

After a heavy night’s rain, we woke up to the sun breaking through on Saturday morning, so we headed out. We have lots of woodland close by, and the open access allowed by Welsh Forestry is fabulous. We saw buzzards, red kites – and a gorgeous hare that was nestling down in the track-side grass – who, sensing us watching him, shot off through the dense trees like a pale ghost.

It was also perfect conditions for fungi & mushrooms – and our walk was punctuated by some lovely specimens of which we duly took pictures.

We’re getting a little better at identifying the different species… although we’ve got a long way to go. We think our sightings included Yellow Stagshorn, Ochre Brittlegill, Common Earthball, Peziza Badia and the unmistakeable Fly Agaric to name a few. Please feel free to fill in any gaps in our mushroom knowledge (or mistaken identities!).

These little jewels of colour, shape and texture are such a joy. It’s amazing that all these different types of fungi were photographed in a relatively small area, on the same day.

And when we got home, our new Esse kitchen range (installed on Thursday) was chuffing away. We had freshly brewed coffee – and bacon sandwiches/cheese toasties respectively – what a joy after a couple of months with no cooker. The perfect end to a wonderful morning!

A day out to Cors Caron National Nature Reserve

We took a trip to Ceredigion in Wales last week – we think that’s our 4th visit in the last 12 months.

We love the variety of walking on offer in the area – woodland, farmland, riversides and coastal scenery are all within easy reach.

One rather special and rare habitat that we visited was to be found at Cors Caron National Nature Reserve. It’s a large, open expanse of ancient peat bog – with various footpaths, gravel tracks and raised ‘decking’ walkways to explore. It covers an area of approximately 2,000 acres in total. The raised bogs built up from deep layers of peat have taken around 12,000 years to form.

This was the first time that we’ve actually visited the site in mid-summer – and really beautiful it was too.

It was green and lush with huge, clear blue skies above.

We strolled slowly around the reserve taking in the scenery and wildlife. Bees, butterflies, dragonflies, damselflies and all manner of other insects flitted and buzzed around. An incredible 170 bird species have been recorded here and you could here various songs and calls as you walked. We particularly loved the sound of the curlew that drifted across the site. We didn’t see any otters on this visit, but apparently they do roam these waterways – along with other mammals such as water voles and polecats.

We stopped for a moment at the hide – what a view! From inside the dark, enclosed hide – the outside seems to stretch out in Techni-colour before you.

The Cors Caron reserve is also home to many interesting, and sometimes rare, wild flower species such as the bog asphodel (pictured below), cotton grass and sphagnum moss.

If you’re ever in the area be sure to stop and take a wander. There are walks of varying distances on offer, you’ll come across wonderful sights on all of them.

It’s an uplifting, life affirming place. Hopefully we’ll return very soon!

If you click on the panoramic image above, you can see it in greater detail. Additionally, if you’re planning a visit, you can download a PDF copy of the map here.

An afternoon walk around the Hafod Estate

We’ve visited Wales three times in the last 6 months. In fact, we can narrow it down further – we’ve been to Ceredigion three times in the last 6 months. One of the aspects that we particularly love is the countryside. On our last visit, we spent a day walking on the Hafod Estate (pronounced ‘Havod’). The area has a fascinating history and stunning scenery. It’s fully open to the public to wander around and enjoy.

We parked up near picturesque Eglwys Newydd (Hafod Church).

There are a number of trails to choose from of varying distances and difficulties. You can also mix different trails to get the perfect walk for you. We combined the full red trail with half the blue, which took about 3 hours or so.

You can click on the map below to go to a large, downloadable PDF version – you don’t want to get lost!

The trails are well signposted, but still feel natural and wild. There are woods, pastures, rivers and streams criss-crossed by numerous bridges. Rocky outcrops and waterfalls are dotted throughout the landscape.

There are certainly lots of perfect spots to stop for a cup of tea or sandwich.

…unfortunately, we forgot to bring one!

The red trail, or Gentleman’s Walk (‘Rhodfa’r Bonheddwr’, in Welsh), culminates at Cavern Cascade.

Mere still photos don’t do the falls justice. You can hear the force of the water in our film clip below.

The Gentleman’s Walk rejoined the Lady’s near the quaint Pwll Pendre (Hawthorn Cottage).

If we’ve got you excited about visiting the Estate, this cottage is available as a holiday let. It’s a beautiful cottage in a spectacular location, overlooking a pretty little pond. Now, that really would be a perfect place for that cup of tea and sandwich!

We really enjoyed our day at the Hafod Estate – and can thoroughly recommend it if you’re ever in the area. We’ll certainly be visiting again!

Out & About… Bingley

Last Sunday we went Out & About in Bingley, West Yorkshire. The walk was organised by Natalie on behalf of Turtle Mat. It brought together various bloggers from the Yorkshire area.

Bingley is a town we’ve always wanted to see a bit more of; we’ve driven through it a couple of times, but have always been on our way somewhere and couldn’t stop.

Our guide for the day was Cedric – originally from France, but a firm Yorkshire fan and indeed, Bingley resident. We can say straight away that from first impressions it’s a lovely little place.

We all met up at the train station and, from our brief view of the town centre, we could see that there were lots of beautiful buildings & interesting corners to save for later visits. A river & canal run through its centre and there seems to be real history all around. By the looks of things, there’s no shortage of shops, pubs & cafés too.

Within a few short minutes of setting off, we’d found ourselves in an attractive open park, then passed some charming & well-tended allotments – then into pretty countryside and the grounds of St Ives Estate.

We stopped to take in the view on rocks overlooking the valley and Ilkley Moor beyond.

From here, we dropped back down into town to have our lunch at the Brown Cow pub. We started with a well-deserved pint from a good range on offer. Adelle chose bubble & squeak with poached egg and watercress sauce.

Justin opted for traditional fish & chips – Fudge was hungry too and was hoping for a dropped chip!

Despite not having much space left, we couldn’t resist dessert to finish. Treacle tart with raspberry coulis for Adelle…

…and waffles and ice cream for Justin.

We were each given a Turtle Mat to take home… perfect for post-walk muddy boots and dirty paws.

On the day of the walk we enjoyed beautiful warm sunshine, so no mud to speak of that day. We’ve had plenty of opportunity to test out the mat since though – well, we live in the Pennines after all!

It’s found the perfect home by the front door and it really does work wonders. Our carpets and rugs might now stand a chance of staying clean!!

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Tag: walk

Mushrooms add magic to our autumn walks

A day out to Cors Caron National Nature Reserve

An afternoon walk around the Hafod Estate

Out & About… Bingley