When you’ve got friends visiting and you want to show them more than the grimy floors of Nottingham’s nightclubs and escape the centre for a bit, the lakes situated just outside of Beeston are a perfect place to go. This is the situation I found myself in this weekend, and so I took my entourage of sister and best friend out of the city and into the muddy footpaths of Attenborough. Bonus points if you or your friend have a car or feel like cycling over there, but you can also just hop onto the Indigo bus (only a quid for students each way) or catch the train to Attenborough train station and get your dose of fresh air in a jiffy. Definitely wear your boots for walking though, unless you are hoping to change your shoes to a nice shade of brown (and don’t wear converse unless you want to spend the following weeks squelching around campus).
We all like a good walk now and then, and I’m sure you’ve already had plenty of practice walking through the Downs on University Park, but Attenborough Nature Reserve provides a change of scenery and some exciting wildlife (mostly of the winged variety). If you want to become best friends with the birdies, you can purchase some bird seed from the Attenborough Nature Centre, thus avoiding feeding them bread which swells horribly in their stomach and is very bad for them. I myself became quite enchanted with a particular swan who was working the camera for a good ten minutes.
I’ll leave you to discover the many other bird species to be found there, such as lapwings and tufted ducks (with thanks to my trusty wildlife expert) but just remember that we’re never too far away from beautiful spots to explore in Nottingham. Happy adventuring!