Willison's Park

Ooh, we had a delicious walk yesterday, and it was our first slightly rainy one. I took about 100 photos, but I've cut it down to around 30 for you because I know you're all very busy.

Williamson Park (which my boys called Willison's Park when they were small) is at the highest point in Lancaster – and that's why the festival that takes place here in the summer is called Highest Point. Being high up, it's a little bit of a hilly park and now my feet hurt. Also, because it will take me ages to write this entry, the next walk will be very short.

You get into the park through this fancy gate.

The first thing you notice when you get through the big gate are the trees – a lot of trees in this park ... because it's a park. It smelled gorgeous this evening because they'd been cutting some trees down; this is okay because they have to keep the park healthy and put the poorly ones out of their misery. And who doesn't love the smell of freshly cut wood?

Loads of trees, see? I'm as knowledgeable about trees as I am about flowers, so you'll have to play a little game of name the tree yourself – I can't help you. Some of them are evergreen and some of them are not; some of them have green leaves and some of them have red. That's all I know.

There are intriguing paths everywhere and, after living here for 43 years, I still don't think I've found all of them. I'm probably exaggerating, though – it's not a giant park compared to many; it's just big for Lancaster, which is small.

We'd walked roughly 100 yards, so, naturally, we were very tired. Fortunately, there's a little rest spot here, so we sat in it to have a cup of tea.

Round windows are always awesome.

Right in the middle of the park is the butterfly house. You will never find me in there because the last thing I ever want is to be landed on by a hideous insect. I did go in there once to take photos of the ugly things for a GCSE art project, but I didn't stay long. Horrific. But you might like it.  

And here it is, the pride of Lancaster. Our most interesting building, probably. The Ashton Memorial. Wow – I've just read on Wikipedia that it cost the equivalent of £8.4 million to build, which seems a bit much. I mean, it's nice, but is it £8.4 million nice? Apparently, a lot of people think so because there are weddings here all the time.

In the summer (though not last year or this year), there is always a Play in the Park and this area is usually the site of a spectacular and long scene. We've seen a good bit of Shakespeare here, but also lovely things like Robin Hood and Peter Pan. Jason and the Argonauts was rather wonderful, and we all very fondly remember the cheeky character (careful now, pronounce this Greekly, like Hercules), testicles. In a bit, I'll show you some of the other sites they use for scenes. 

Anyway, onward. We're just to one side of the memorial here and that, right there, is Lancaster and Morecambe. Obviously, on fine days, you'll see the Lake District as well. 

We've been here sooooo many times; I used to bring the boys up the park at least once a week when they were little, and this was the play area where they spent many, many hours letting off steam. Alright, I did too – there were no signs to say parents couldn't go on the swings. 

Look! Because you love it so much, I've zoomed in to that big view so you can see the ugly blue train bridge. And my house is over there somewhere.

It's kind of the law that you have to walk around the memorial and down the steps when you come here, so we did. It's also the law that – male, female or other – as you're gliding down the steps (you must glide – no running or ordinary walking, and definitely no falling), you must imagine you're a princess in a voluptuous silver gown and a huge tiara. Everyone does it, even if they don't admit it. 

Actually, I don't imagine the tiara; I imagine that I'm Deborah Kerr in The King and I. 

I mean, come ooooonnn, look at those steps. You can't help but glide. 

The next law you must abide by is to climb into the empty pond here and have your photo taken on the fountain. If you don't like to have your image plastered all over the internet, you can hide behind a column, as Matthew has done here.

Look at this dude. He's pretty cool. Since the fountain did used to work, I guess he must be Poseidon or Neptune.

The hill that no one likes when they get to the bottom and their toddler says, 'mummy, I need a wee', because the toilets are back up at the top and it's usually too packed with people to get them to go behind a bush. Great hill for the lungs, though.

Okay, here's a bird. Now, you're going to have to take my word for it that this was a green woodpecker. I'm absolutely certain that it was because it had the right markings, but the iPhone let me down again and I could not get a nice shot of it. It was trying to be terribly obliging as well, hopping onto different branches and posing very nicely; such a shame. 

This is what it sounded like: https://www.british-birdsongs.uk/green-woodpecker/

We walked down to – now don't laugh – the lake. I know it's a lake because, when you watch the play in the park, they tell you to walk down to the lake for the next scene. If it was a pond, they would tell you to walk down to the pond.

The rock that you can just see in the middle has been worn smooth by many thousands of bottoms that have used it as a slide over 140 years. My bottom is included, as are all my children's bottoms, and those of pretty much everyone I know. 

This is one of the spots used in most of the plays. It's called the Grotto, which is always a scrumptious name for a hidey place. There's an artificial waterfall here that falls into a little pool, but I don't think I've ever seen it working. This is just a lovely place to sit and be quiet and invisible.

All about bottoms today. A duck sticking it's bottom in the air ... because that's hilarious. 

Every time I'm here, I think it will be a good idea to walk around the lake and under the bridge, always forgetting that I can't remember the way up onto the bridge and end up having to climb through some undergrowth. But that's okay because it's fun. I did nearly lose Matthew this time because he was wearing shoes that were too big for him because his own are too small and the shoe shops are closed. It was like that scene in Cliffhanger when the woman screams, 'DON'T LET ME FALL!!!' I didn't, it was fine. 

From the bridge, you can play name the tree if you know about trees. We don't, so we didn't. 

There, see? That's a lake. Nothing pond-like about that expanse of water. I'm very proud to say that, despite years of leaning over the edge to grabs sticks and leaves and such, none of my children have ever fallen in.

In the olden days, when I was much fitter, we could never resist a few of these little climbs. I think a right good scramble up a slippy hillside is very good for the soul, and probably the legs.

It was time to start heading back because we were starving. Always time for an extra photo of the memorial, of course, because it's stunning. 

But lo! What have we here? Ooooh, how interesting.

It's a bandstand! I don't know the last time it was actually used as a bandstand, because it's now an analemmatic sundial (the link I'm sending you to here is full of fancy maths, but it's interesting!). But one summer, I did sit and listen to a bunch of students who had brought their instruments up here for a bit of a jam. That was nice.   

Here's the sundial. No shadows today, so we couldn't tell what time it was. We'll see if it works on a sunny day.

Here's the Dell. This is pretty cool, and I think the best spot for a play scene, and not just because there's seating. It's got great acoustics (I say this, but I am not a sound engineer and know nothing about such things) and actors can appear out of the trees at the back for maximum suspense and fun.

I don't know what this is but it was worth a photo. Anyone know what it is? It's got a winch at the back. A lighting rig for the plays? I don't know.

Almost back to the car, a final little treat, we saw a blackbird that managed to get its worm. It wasn't at all bothered that we were there and, in fact, seemed to be showing off. Very cool.

Blackbirds are very chatty: https://www.british-birdsongs.uk/common-blackbird/ 

Okay, it's nearly 11pm and I haven't had today's walk yet, so I'll go and quickly do that before bedtime! G'night, and ...

Until tomorrow, night owls.

WQ