The countryside I often take myself to is strange in that it’s also a university. A mile or so out of town there is a little rural campus, an outpost of Nottingham Trent University for students in agriculture and environmental sciences, set in the grounds of a minor country estate. It is an almost absurdly neat Venn diagram of my favourite categories.
There is a working farm, criss-crossed with footpaths that follow the hedges of fields with names such as Bottom Close and Big Dickholme. At the lower boundary the footpath tracks alongside a stream through a narrow wooded valley, its trees dotted with wildlife boxes and camera traps. And then there is a miniature lake and reed bed with a hide for watching waterbirds, before the path loops up towards parkland and house.
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