It’s Nick here again today, as Frances is at a funeral.

I’ve been scratching my head over what to write about today, however I decided I’d take photos with my phone while out walking Danny this morning. It’s not until you get a dog that you discover so many interesting places to walk near your home, and I was surprised at just how much there is near us, so I wanted to share this with you.

First up, we’ve known about this field for ages; it’s home to loads of skylarks (which is a good thing as these poor birds are in decline across the country due to changes in farming methods). I know you can’t see any in this photo, but it’s the first taste of rural scenery on the walk after I cross the busy road near our house

There’s a footpath alongside this field that leads to the Ebury Way – a converted railway line that now acts as a footpath from Watford to Rickmansworth (I mentioned this in a previous post). The connecting path heads through some trees, then up some steps to the Ebury Way:

If you turn left at the top of the steps, the path crosses the river Colne, with beautiful views downstream

It looks particularly nice when there’s a layer of mist hanging around – this is from a few years ago:

Further along the Ebury Way there are sites of interest that you can go and visit, such as Lairage Land. A Lairage is an area of land set aside for resting cattle en route to market, and the one in Watford is now a nature reserve. I didn’t visit it today, but it’s only a short walk from the footpath.

The path crosses a road leading to a farm, which is where I leave the Ebury Way on my morning walk and head into the meadow where the footpath runs alongside a lake, which is often teeming with terns, herons, geese and grebes.

The path then crosses the river Colne again, next to Hamper Mill, and old mill that is often used as a filming location.

We cross the road into the large, former golf course that is now Oxhey Playing Fields, a wide open space where Danny can run free with all his friends

It has plenty of woodland too, and Danny loves to pose on the felled trees

After a good three mile walk, and a quick drink, he loves to cool off by rolling around in long grass for a good scratch

So there you have it: Watford, not quite as bad as you might expect!

Thanks again to Frances for letting me share this with you. See you all again soon!