Nottingham University - West End
w/e 14 August 2016
All of this week's pictures were taken with a Kodak DX6490

We went back to school this week or to be more precise, we took a walk through the grounds of Nottingham University. Previous visits to the University have always been towards the eastern end of the campus but this time we approached from the western end on the 300 acre site. An information board of which this is an extract, at the West Entrance gives a little detail about the origins of the site and its development but we didn't see this until we were leaving the University. We had parked the car in a lay by near the shops on Woodside Road and entered the campus along a footpath marked by a welcoming Visitor Notice.

The footpath runs behind the University's Ancaster Hall but all views of it are obscured by the trees. A gap in the trees however revealed a glimpse of the distant Cavendish Hall.

As the information board declares, the campus is one of "the most attractive in the UK" so this was perhaps not the best way to access the site as the path took us past a tennis court in desperate need of some TLC backed by a wall covered with graffiti. It led to the Sports Centre which resembled a building site as work appears to be taking place whilst the students are absent for the summer. We left the path and walked along Nightingale Hall Close passing the main entrance of Nightingale Hall.

Just beyond the Hall is the more aesthetically pleasing view of the only other properties on Nightingale Hall Close which are numbered 1 to 4.

Turning right onto Beeston Lane, one of the main roads through the campus, we discovered the Humanities building. I say "discovered" because it was not shown on the "Gardens Guide and Tree Walk" brochure obtained previously from the University.

The same can be said of the Lenton Grove building which stands next to the Humanities building. With flower beds and a water feature at the entrance this is indeed a more attractive aspect than we had encountered when we first accessed the campus along the footpath from Woodside Road.

A little further along Beeston Lane we passed the impressive gate posts that mark the entrance to Florence Boot Close, a cul de sac of five properties.

And just beyond the entrance I managed to squeeze the camera through the railings of the fence to take a couple of photos of the notice about the Nottingham Crocus. This being August though meant there were no crocuses to be seen.

The Gardens brochure gives information about the various gardens and floral displays around the campus and where Beeston Lane meets Jubilee Avenue it says that " a smaller area of formal bedding is located near the West Entrance by the old lodges."

Continuing along Beeston Lane we exited the campus via the West Entrance (left) if that is not a contradiction in terms. The view to the right towards Willoughby Hall is another example of the attractive setting of the University but as we walked along Woodside Road back to the car we noticed the student flats on the opposite side of the road. This brought back memories from about half a century ago when my employment was involved with the supply of electricity to the site. The discrepancies between the plans supplied by the developer and the actual buildings caused a whole host of problems but that is another story not for the telling here. Next time we visit the University though I think we'll approach from the more usual direction at the other end of the campus and consign those unsavoury memories to the past.

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