Cambridge Getaway :: Wicken Fen

After the delights of Anglesey Abbey, we had a little bit of time left in the afternoon to pop a few minutes down the road to Wicken Fen Nature Reserve (in a quest to gain more National Trust badges you see). Baby F fell asleep in the car and, as he'd missed his nap earlier, we ended up sitting in the carpark for about 40 minutes to let him recharge. Of course I rarely go anywhere without a stitching project so I had my Cherry Blossom ATCs for the April Stitchscape swap with me and spent the time happily sewing on my pink branches with the car door open to let the sunshine and sweet smelling air in. 

We ended up walking around the Fen on our own as the rest of our family group had split up - some had walked round whilst we were in the car, and others had taken their small people back to the holiday home for their nap. It was nearing the end of the day but the sun was still shining a beautiful golden glow and it felt almost like we had the place to ourselves. 

Wicken Fen is a huge wetland, supposedly with thousands of different species of creatures living there - not that we actually saw much except some little brown lizards warming their tummies on the boardwalk. You could hear the birds all around you with their different calls, and the sound of the rustle of grasses in the wind was very peaceful. Apparently this site was the National Trust's first ever nature reserve to be taken into their care, and they've been looking after it for 125 years! 

There were some activities you could do whilst on your wander around the boardwalk, I particularly enjoyed making my own poem from pre-worded pebbles. I hope you enjoy my efforts. 

The little one quite liked walking along the pathway, although we were holding onto him fairly tightly!  

The wind pump cuts a striking figure, standing out proud among the flat marshy land around it. I believe it was moved to Wicken Fen from somewhere else and restored by the National Trust in the 1950s and is now the last remaining wooden wind pump in the fens. 

This was our last Cambridge getaway visit I can show you really. On our way home we stopped off in Bishop Stortford to have lunch with my aunt and then to the IKEA at Lakeside to have a mooch round, neither of which have blog-worthy photos, but I hope that you've enjoyed my posts about our holiday!