By Katie Isham. A walk through the moors seems like a good idea, until you have to load up backpacks and drive the busy country lanes to the wilderness. Well, here’s the simple solution: take a winter trip to our local moor in the suburbs. Only as far as...
Suburban Safari
Suburban Safari: Freemantle Common
Words and images by Katie Isham. We’ve just had National Tree Week (25 November – 3 December) . I know what you’re thinking: surely every week is tree week? Indeed, it should be. But it’s not. So this seems like the perfect excuse to celebrate the wondrous trees in...
Suburban Safari Suburban Safungi
By Katie Isham. With the daylight hours fleeing and biblical downpours part of our daily routines, conditions are perfectly ripe for mushroom season. Abundance is the word on the street. Maybe not the street, but the soggy, boggy woodland trails. The fungi explosion is happening right now and you...
Suburban Safari: St. James’ Park
By Katie Isham. Of all the parks in the city of Southampton, St. James’ Park in Shirley may be my favourite. Don’t tell the others. But there’s a certain something about this one that makes it impossible not to love. Maybe there’s bias in the fact it’s home to...
Suburban Safari: Lost in Westwood
By Katie Isham. It’s the end of the summer holidays. What’s everyone been up to? Some people go cruising round the Caribbean. Some people go sightseeing through Italian villages. But the wisest people go for the most exotic locations around: exploring the wild woods of Southampton. On the eastern...
Suburban Safari: City Farm
By Katie Isham. Long summer days call for another farm outing. Our city is blessed with fields of farms stashed away in the suburbs. One of these is Southampton City Farm in Millbrook. There’s been a farm on this site since the mid-1970s so if you’ve never been, what...
Suburban Safari: Rollesbrook Greenway
by Katie Isham. Did anyone else know there’s basically a jungle in town? Rollesbrook Greenway is a stretch of woodland running through the terraced streets of The Polygon in Southampton’s city centre. A mere stone’s throw from the immaculately manicured lawns of the city parks, here grows the absolute...
Suburban Safari: Bat Walk
by Katie Isham. Time for a proper safari, with wild animals, expert guidance and big camouflaged jeeps. Well, two out of three at least. We’ll keep to our trusty feet for this mild adventure. In the dip of the valley of Station Road, amongst the suburbs of Sholing is...
Suburban Safari: Centenary Quay
by Katie Isham. Time to look up as well as around. This safari discovers some of the tallest buildings in the city including a giant that is now officially the closest you can get to heaven in Southampton. Centenary Quay is a development perched on the east bank of...
Suburban Safari: Spring worship on the farm
by Katie Isham. Easter is a time of new life, hope and a healthy smattering of eggs. Spending some time on the farm seems fitting. Aldermoor is home to a budding farm, just off a busy bus route and surrounded by a labyrinth of residential streets. Nestled in the...