The peaceful parkland at Lydiard is the perfect place to enjoy autumn, to walk on a misty morning or a windy afternoon, to watch the trees turn a vibrant gold, yellow and bronze, and to see the red and orange berries forming and the shiny conkers falling.
Download our guide to the parkland and enjoy taking in the sights as you walk. Wildfowl gather on the lake – swans, geese and different sorts of ducks, some of whom will have migrated from further north. Look out for fungi, huge puffballs, ink caps, bracket fungus on the trees and the stunning Orange Mycenae that grow in clusters on deciduous logs. You may even see the “fairy rings” of mushrooms on the lawn, but remember never to eat any fungi or mushrooms you have picked unless it has been identified as edible by an expert.
Autumn is also the season of fruitfulness and a great time to gather blackberries, damsons, sloes and nuts from the trees and hedgerows. You can download foragers’ apps to help you find all these autumn treasures. Rosehips can be turned into jam or tea, and sloe and damson into gin! If you can beat the squirrels to the hazelnuts you will need to leave them to ripen at home, and sweet chestnuts are delicious roasted! But whatever you choose, enjoy the wide-open spaces, the sights and scents of autumn, and the tranquillity of Lydiard Park.