Today, the weather has turned cold, overcast and threatening of rain. In other words, a perfect opportunity to take our longest trip for exercise since lockdown began by driving to Cademan Wood, part of the National Forest just north of Whitwick (about 5 miles each way! Such extravagance!). We promised ourselves not to stick around if it was overcrowded but, although the car park had a few vehicles in, we hardly saw anyone in the woods so all was safe on that front.

It was an interesting woodland too. Like many British woodlands, it packs a lot of variety into a small space. We walked through areas dominated by single species, like beech or Scots pine, and others that were mixed. Sometimes the wood hemmed in close and at others we were strolling through broad, grassy meadows. We even discovered some rocky outcroppings and trod part of the Ivanhoe Way.

Even if tonight’s lockdown update from the Prime Minister significantly reduces restrictions, I think we’ll be keeping a fairly self-contained profile for a while to come but this woodland is one we might choose to revisit.