🥾 Walk 523 - Reading University Evening Walk

We often have week-day evening walks at this time of year to make the most of the long days and warm weather. On Thursday evening 16th June, we met up in the campus of Reading University for a 4-mile walk and a drink at the Park House bar.

The campus grounds are surprising large and very green, with plenty of woodland, cultivated gardens and a lake. Before the university moved here, the grounds belonged to the 5th Duke of Marlborough, who imported a large number of trees of different varieties not native to the UK. Some of them quite rare. Years later, five large Victorian houses were built here, each having a portion of the land.

Exploring the Harris Garden and its many unusual trees, our leader Ian was keen to show us a Wollemi Pine - one of the worlds oldest and rarest varieties of tree. These prehistoric trees were completely unknown until they were discovered in the Greater Blue Mountains area of Australia in the late 20th century. There are only a few hundred of these trees in existence.

As well as the woodland trails and meadow areas, there are more formal parts of the garden, with herbaceous borders and hedges tended to by volunteers. We explored most of these areas before leaving the Harris Garden and returning to the more built-up areas of the campus. As a diversion, Lawrence, who was also on this walk, showed us the secret nuclear bunker, built during the cold war.

Next, we followed a woodland trail around Whiteknights Lake. This artificial lake was created in the 18th century and is home to a variety of wildlife. While passing the top of the lake, Ian was persuaded to re-enact the scene from the film Titanic where Rose leans over the bow of the ship, pretending to fly.

The walk finished by Park House, one of the five Victorian houses, which is now a bar and restaurant. Some of us decided to have a post-walk drink here before heading home. We sat outside, amongst the students and staff, as the sun was setting.

Thank you to Ian for leading the walk.

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