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Doxey Marshes Nature Reserve, Stafford
Urban Sanctuary
You could argue that there is not an awful lot going for my neighbourhood.
It’s a typical edge-of-town estate with streets of identical, uninteresting terraced houses. The overwhelming feel is
one of wheelie bins and on-street parking, dog poo and just the odd, stunted tree – too many people squished together
into one small area. I am a country girl at heart, who feels at home under open skies and leafy ceilings, so I’ve found
it tough living here.
My salvation came in the form of a hidden space, discovered by chance one day when
I let my feet do the walking down unfamiliar streets. I had been incapacitated for a very long time by a chronic illness that
left me unable to walk so when I found my feet again I began to explore the neighbourhood I had lived in for over three years
but never really knew. I swear my body honed in on this place, pulling me towards the nearest patch of nature it could find.
It turned out that two minutes walk from my house there is a cycle path called the Isabel Trail
that winds its way between the estates, coming out alongside the wide open space of Stafford’s Common, working its way
under the main roads and eventually to the town centre itself. Rubbish and graffiti nestle alongside the trees and vegetation
but the over whelming feeling is one of green, nature finding itself a little foothold and not letting go. As you walk you
eventually leave houses behind, walking through the middle of the gorgeous town graveyard and coming to the wide pools of
Doxey Marshes Nature Reserve that sits nestled right against our little town.
Silver
Birches and Beech line the pathway, with tall Scots Pines, ancient Oak and Yew trees and Holly to be found if you wander off
the track and into the graveyard that sit on either side. The Nature Reserve itself is filled with wildlife, famous for its
wading birds and breeding snipe; even an elusive population of otters.
It’s like having a little
piece of the countryside that I can escape to whenever I am feeling a little hemmed in by the oppressiveness of urban living,
a sanctuary I can take refuge in, and it has saved my sanity many times over. First as place of healing, walking slowly to
sit by the pools for entire days in the summer sunshine; next as a place for restless feet in the latter stages of my pregnancy
when all I seemed to want to do was walk and walk some more; and finally as a place to take my son, to walk with him as he
stared up at the shifting light in the leaves, or later to chase him through the mud and puddles on our regular walks there.
We
are moving soon to pastures greener. And though there is much I will not miss about our life here, this place will always
hold a special place in my heart, and in my soul.
By Josie at Sleep is for the Weak
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