Plans for the summer holidays - Part 1

With the school summer holidays nearly upon us, I've started thinking about what we are going to do over those 6 weeks.

I don't need to have a definitive plan for each day, we like to go with the flow, but I do like to have a few activities booked in for each week.

So I've decided to write about a few of the places we will hopefully be visiting. Here's the first.

Attenborough Nature Reserve

We love visiting the reserve in all seasons, but especially summer.

Situated about 7miles from the centre of Nottingham it's a great place to explore all sorts of flora and fauna, especially birds!

It was recently featured on the BBC2 programme Springwatch, where they showed their new Sand Martin bank and hide. 

The reserve covers around 145 hectares of lakes, wetland, grassland and scrub. Visitors are able to walk around these lanspdscapes and learn about the different wildlife and plant life and it's habitats.

Surrounded by the peaceful waters of the reserve is the Attenborough Nature Centre. This is an eco-friendly visitor attraction which is run by the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust. And was listed in the top 10 Eco destinations in the world by the BBC Wildlife Magazine.

Inside the Nature Centre there are numerous areas to excite all ages, including the nature table where there are specimens to look at, puzzles to complete and activity sheets to colour in for a small fee.

There are also the interactive screens, where you can play games as well as find out information about the wildlife that can be found at the reserve and it's habitats.  There is also a large screen that can be seen from the cafe, which shows footage of their nesting boxes (when available) and also information on upcoming events.

The cafe is lovely and has fantastic views of the reserve.  Sitting either inside or outside on the lovely balcony, you can enjoy a light snack or more substantial lunch from their menu, which includes quality local, fair trade and organic homemade products.

There is also a shop which sells great nature related items for a little pocket money treat as a reminder of the visit to the reserve or nest boxes, bird seed and feeders if you want to create your own little nature haven at home.

It's a fab day out and what's even better it's free. They only ask for a small donation of £1.50 for the car park, which I think is totally worth it.

You can find out more information about the reserve and activities going on throughout the year here http://www.attenboroughnaturecentre.co.uk/.

We can't wait to visit and see how the landscape has changed since the last time we were there.

Until next time.

Sarah xx