Weekend at Wolseley (Trent & Mersey Canal)

Saturday 11^th and Sunday 12^th July

We have spent the weekend at Wolseley bridge.

The Wine Shop

Spot Gemma Panda in the Garden Centre

The Antiques Barn

Saturday – Just up the road from where we are moored there is an antiques place with lots of interesting items, a shop selling wooden bird tables and sculptures, a shop selling leather items and also does repairs, a craft shop and a wine shop.  

River Trent

Pool in the Reserve

They were all open except the wine shop so we had a good look around then went across the road to the garden centre and had a wander around there and had a coffee in the restaurant.

Today (Sunday) we are off to Wolseley Nature Reserve which is next to the garden centre.

That's a Big Kingfisher

Mum and Baby on log

It is set in 26 acres of wildlife friendly grounds including three pools, woodlands and meadows.  There is a gift shop which wasn’t open but the cafe was selling drinks, sandwiches and ice creams.

One of the many walkways

Another pool in the reserve

There are lots of paths and walk ways around the reserve and the River Trent runs through the park.

We packed up a picnic and headed off to the reserve.  There was quite a few people there but as it is big with plenty of paths to follow which are wide in most places, it was easy to avoid people.

Path by the River Trent

Gemma in charge of the Rolls

Picnic Time

We had a good wander around and in one of the pools we passed, there were some water boatmen skimming the surface.  We followed the path which took us first to the River Trent then onto the Broadwalk which goes around one of the pools.  This pool is home to the resident terrapin and today we were lucky enough to see him on a log sunbathing.  At one point, he went into the water and I managed to get a photo of him swimming, he then climbed back onto his log.  In the same pool was a mother duck and her baby also on a log in the water. 

Terrapin on his log

Terrapin sunbathing

We then headed to the path which runs alongside the River Trent and the bench we usually sit on by the river when we have visited in the past was free so we made a beeline for it and had our picnic sat there in the sunshine.

Water Boatman

After lunch we took the path through the meadow and back onto the main path.  We walked through the reserve go the cafe and bought an ice cream, we then found a bench to sit on while we ate them.

Terrapin having a swim

We walked down to the big pool where there was lots of ducks and geese, we then took another path which took us around the park and out to the road.

We then walked back to the boat.  We really enjoyed our visit to the reserve as it’s such a lovely place and we will definitely be calling in there on our way back up the canal in a couple of weeks time.