Your favorite outdoor place to go as a youngster

[wingstoo]

When I was a pre-teen a few of us used to go to an old railway track that had its tracks removed to look for any wildlife, Myself, my brother and one of the other preteens along the street built hides so we could watch the wide variety of wildlife that had set up home on the stony track base, at night we would go and do an owl and bat watch.

Many hours could be spent looking under old corrugated sheeting hoping to see a slow worm or a field mouse as well as all the small birds that would use the area for nesting.

Fantastic times of a few youngsters fascinated by what we found, sadly gone now the old track base has been reclaimed and is now part of the farmers fields again.

 

[Harvestman]

I just used to go up onto the hill behind where I lived, the Mynydd Maen. An expanse of heather and bilberry, a few old quarries, and lots of peace and quiet, which as a solitary teenager I needed.

 

[Dannytsg]

We have a lot of woodland bordering a large valley that I use to explore as a child with my dad and then as a teen with my friends. I still love the place and even now visit and camp on the land when I can with my step son.

 

[John Fenna]

Queens's Wood Dinmore

 

[wingstoo]

Queens's Wood Dinmore

It still is a wonderful place John, in fact we might be going there for lunch tomorrow...

 

[Toddy]

A hillfarm above Inverary or down the lochs on the Clyde. The Holy Loch until the American's made it a no-go zone and later the Gare Loch.

We played for days among the bracken and bog myrtle and heather at Inverary, and never a single tick. I was in my late teens before I got a tick bite and none of us knew what it was. One of the Scout leaders said he thought it was a tick and we took it off and wiped my arm with dettol.

Midges by the million though down the lochs....you just go offshore forty or fifty yards or so and get peace

M

 

[Mesquite]

A place called the Warren.

It was a section of woodland with a footpath running through it that I used to go regularly to explore and watch wildlife.

Brings back some good memories, Must be 30+ years since I was last there. I'll have to take the dogs for a wander down it again

 

[mountainm]

Clumber park

 

[woodstock]

It would have to be the clyde or the Moose we used to make a new adventure everytime what a wonderful magical time I had growing up in Lanark/Tabrax

 

[swright81076]

Up until the age of 8 I spent just about every school night and weekend in the small woods opposite my house.

Then when we moved, I had acres of fields and woods to play in, then from about 14, many a night camping out in the woods beside the canal.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2

 

[santaman2000]

Too many to list completely. But the thread's bringing back many fond memories:

-A small hill in the woods near my house
-A branch (small stream) where we swam before we were old enough to go to the river alone
-A 100 acre soybean filed known locally as "The Swamp Field"

 

[sandbender]

In Edinburgh, near to home there was a series of long abandoned greenhouses and outbuildings that once supplied produce for Beechmount House on Corstorphine Hill, they were recognisably still greenhouses then and were surrounded by both a wall on the roadside and heavy undergrowth on the hill side and were seldom visited by other kids. Much to see and do, lots of wildlife, many a long summer spent just pottering around there.

Beechmount house had become Beechmount Hospital by then and my grandmother spent her last year there, the grounds of the hospital were mostly left to go wild and this provided another place for adventure, in this case surrounded by a wall around the hospital grounds so it became my exclusive area for exploration and adventure.

The hospital is now an office I believe and the landscape now tamed, also more houses have been built on land that was previously woodland.

I am told that the old greenhouses and outbuildings have now vanished completely, however I did revisit them in 2004? and photographed what was left. Part of the wall on the road side had been removed and BMX bike riders were in the process of 'landscaping' the ruins to their needs.

Some pics.

You can see the greenhouses and Beechmount House in the lower left side of this map from 1915 (the greenhouses are the six rectangles to the left of Beech Hill).

 

[boatman]

Before age twelve, bombsites in London and Brockwell Park. After that age Epping Forest, below High Beach particularly or the banks of the River Roding.

 

[Goatboy]

I think one of my favourites was Reekie Linn (Smokey/misty pool roughly translated) on the River Isla about 4 miles north of Alyth. Depending on the spate level it's either one or two waterfalls about 40 foot high and the pool at the bottom is supposed to be about 90 feet deep but I couldn't attest to that. Loved scrambling about on the slopes, swimming (it's blinking cold), playing by the bridge, exploring the woodland, desperately wanting to go into the Black Dub (a cave at the base of the fall) but never being allowed - a robber had seen the Devil there in the form of a black dog and turned himself in!

Not far away in Glen Clova there was plenty of rock climbing (and later ice climbing nearby) and our woodland cabin in Glen Prossen. Great fun, especially getting snowed in at the old Clova Hotel and thawing out with massive plates of proper stovies and oatcakes... in front of the wood burner.

Going to go back this summer when it's low and go in that cave finally I think. Always wanted too.

 

[Dave-the-rave]

Basically anywhere we were forbidden to go. The river, railway line or what was called ''the slag hill'' which was a mountain of slag dumped from a quarry somewhere. Over the years it grew into something massive and was eventually crushed and used as aggregate. Deep pools of tar formed at the top which claimed a few young boys lives over the years. We loved playing up there with our air guns and cattys.

Also a disused overgrown railway line which I played in for a huge part of my youth. Found a lot of err...''mens mags'' hidden in the undergrowth for some strange reason. I lost an old Army ''Oil the joints'' up there once, throwing it at a frog with both the blade and marlin spike extended. I was gutted and the frog lived to hop another day. The railway line is gone now, landscaped and re developed. A sheltered housing complex for old folks sits there now which is where my dad lives. It amuses me to think he may be living on top of my old knife.

Glentrool, Galloway forest. We spent many a summer there as kids at the now closed Caldons camp site. It's sad to see the old house sitting there in ruins.

I joined the Army at 16 and did my training in Aldershot. Returning to the woods there now at 49 is a bit like returning to my youth in a way. For me MOD land has a strange atmosphere, sorta spooky, uncomfortable, comfortable and familiar at the the same time. Hard to explain really.

 

[rik_uk3]

Growing up in brum http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lickey_Hills was where chums and I would go from the age of about ten.

 

[Hugo]

I was lucky to be living on Epsom common for my first Twelve years, it was heaven for me and my mates

 

[petrochemicals]

I think one of my favourites was Reekie Linn (Smokey/misty pool roughly translated) on the River Isla about 4 miles north of Alyth. Depending on the spate level it's either one or two waterfalls about 40 foot high and the pool at the bottom is supposed to be about 90 feet deep but I couldn't attest to that. Loved scrambling about on the slopes, swimming (it's blinking cold), playing by the bridge, exploring the woodland, desperately wanting to go into the Black Dub (a cave at the base of the fall) but never being allowed - a robber had seen the Devil there in the form of a black dog and turned himself in!

Not far away in Glen Clova there was plenty of rock climbing (and later ice climbing nearby) and our woodland cabin in Glen Prossen. Great fun, especially getting snowed in at the old Clova Hotel and thawing out with massive plates of proper stovies and oatcakes... in front of the wood burner.

Going to go back this summer when it's low and go in that cave finally I think. Always wanted too.

ponce !


Only envy realy.

Under my own yoke The rough park with the dells and wild ground 20 yards from the house, bike riding and crashing,

with my ma n paw days out to the likies, clent, kinver edge, which are outdoor recreation areas within shouting distance, malvern hills if adventurous and that was my favourite, although bloody cold for a little 6 year old with tempratures of about minus 5¤c on top.

Camping, a few places, usually with a river and fire permission on a rough field, thors cave in Derbyshire and the linked camp site being particularly memorable (thors cave to a kid is extrodinary,even if thor didn'r mean anything until years later) paddle and make dams in the rivers, fire, caves, I was only missing a gun really.

 

[Goatboy]

ponce !


Only envy realy.

Under my own yoke The rough park with the dells and wild ground 20 yards from the house, bike riding and crashing,

with my ma n paw days out to the likies, clent, kinver edge, which are outdoor recreation areas within shouting distance, malvern hills if adventurous and that was my favourite, although bloody cold for a little 6 year old with tempratures of about minus 5¤c on top.

Camping, a few places, usually with a river and fire permission on a rough field, thors cave in Derbyshire and the linked camp site being particularly memorable (thors cave to a kid is extrodinary,even if thor didn'r mean anything until years later) paddle and make dams in the rivers, fire, caves, I was only missing a gun really.

Oh there was guns involved in childhood, just not there! Well up at the cabin there was a wee range we set up, and I want you to understand that no pheasants whatsoever ever wandered onto the range.

There was also a great old POW camp not far from Grans at the farm where we used to run around the abandoned huts. Set into a hill in the woods was the old estate ice house beautifully cool even on a hot summers day and our lair. Further into the woods was an old private cemetery with some great trees round about. We played so much around there at periods all through mans history in our heads. If we'd been good it was off up to the follies at Kinoull, a series towers on the top of a couple of hundred feet cliff edge, surrounded by woodland overlooking the Carse of Gowrie.

 

[dave53]

i lived oall over the world so the jungle woods forests of wilshire /gloucester/cheltenham/and of course germany happy days regards dave