A Cotham Hideaway

I awoke to rain at 8am, put my phone on charge, and read Oliver Sacks' excellent autobiography "On the Move" for two hours while wondering where I could perhaps go on a long walk to.

Next thing I know, it's 2pm and I'm waking up from a doze furious with myself!

Luckily the rain had stopped by then, and the although the skies were still battleship grey it was actually rather warm and muggy. So after a pate and pitta lunch, I saddled up my steed and headed off for a cycle with no particular destination in mind.

It was after I set off that I remembered this post on the Nottinghamshire Villages blog, and decided to ride out to Cotham to find this little footpath I'd always missed before.

Cotham is only a tiny village, and although it has a very pleasantly un-ornate church and surrounding countryside rich in bird life, I'd never really thought there was much to the village.

Not having a pub maybe doesn't help in this regard!

I found the the little row of 17th century houses quite easily, it is virtually the only side street in the village, and then found the charming, if slightly intrusive I felt, route through the private gardens of the listed cottages. I immediately wished I owned one, it would be a wonderful place for a writer to live. Writing by night, drinking large jugs of icy fresh lemonade in the garden by day. With a cat close to hand.

The last house had a larger patch of land, where a group of chooks were huddling under a bush from rain that wasn't happening. I continued around to a narrow tree lined path that opened up through the cunningly constructed rustic gate at the end.

This opened up onto a large field, a far reaching view of...nothing very much. A lot of grey sky and farmland looking towards the village of Elston. I'm sure on a warm day it be a lovely spot in it was a field of oilseed rape mind you, just not today.

The path seemed to wind around the field boundaries, and I was a cyclist today, not a walker, so I returned to my bike. As I suspected, the path emerged on the Elston road, and resolved to perhaps do a training run out in this direction.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 05.10.15

Entrance to The Row

Winding paths

Lovely gardens

The path narrows

Snuggling poultry

Along the path

Rustic gate

A very cunning latch!

Wide open space

Cotham sheep