THE NATIONAL Trust is encouraging everyone to make the most of short daylight hours during winter by getting out for a walk.
It has compiled a list of five walks in Berkshire at properties or land they manage, which it says will suit every mood and boost wellbeing this season. The National Trust hope that their list will help people to enjoy the outdoors, even when the days are grey and muddy.
The full list includes buggy-friendly winter wanders for little ones, long hikes over rolling hills for mindful meanders, or country estate walks for a little escapism.
Some of the walks are across countryside looked after by the National Trust which do not require membership to access, others require membership or an entrance fee.
One of the properties walkers are being encouraged to visit is Basildon Park, just outside of Reading. It has four marked routes from half a mile to three miles to follow, all on easy terrain. The shorter routes are suitable for buggies if it’s dry, and dogs are welcome on leads. The woodland walks offer views across the Palladian façade of the house, with evergreen yew trees and cedars providing colour, as well as opportunities to spot birds and wildlife. Normal admission applies, and there is a café available.
For those who would like a challenge, Streatley’s chalk grasslands trail is a seven mile route over hills. This walk takes in three adjacent areas of National Trust land, Lardon Chase, the Holies and Lough Down and offers views over Streatley and the Goring Gap. Parts of the area were once used as a motorbike scrambling course, but the habitat has gradually been restored and now it is one of the largest remaining areas of chalk grassland in the country.
The other Berkshire walks are at Simons Wood, Finchampstead, Cliveden, just outside of Taplow, and the Wind in the Willows walk at Maidenhead and Cookham Commons.
For more information,visit: nationaltrust.org.uk/lists/walking-in-the-south-east
