by Katie Isham. If I told you that this Suburban Safari visits Valley Gardens, would you know where we are? I’m not sure many residents of Southampton could point it out on a map. But I guess that’s the thing with secrets; there’s always an element of secrecy. Small...
Suburban Safari
Suburban Safari: Town Quay: From Park to Pier
by Katie Isham. Parks and boats are a staple of life in Southampton. This wander will show you the best the city centre has to offer. No longer must you choose between waves and flowers. Here you can enjoy both. With a bonus of some historical sights as well. ...
Suburban Safari: Peartree Pollinators
by Katie Isham. Slap-bang in the middle of Sholing, there sits a park. At first glance, it’s a basic public amenity. A big wonky trapezium of grass where people can walk their dogs, footballers have somewhere to play on Sunday mornings and youths have a location to loiter aimlessly...
Suburban Safari : beside the river and behind the curtain in Redbridge
by Katie Isham. Southampton is famous for its docks. They spear the heart of the city and have provided employment, transport and stories for centuries. The docks are a constant source of activity but it’s a place few of us residents get to see up close. This week I...
Suburban Safari: The flowers and follies of Bursledon
by Katie Isham. For a walk that’s under two miles long, this loop makes you feel like you’ve been on a hike through several different landscapes and even navigated a few eras. The sort of walk where, by the end, you’re surprised to remember some of the sights from...
Suburban Safari: Costa Del Southampton
by Katie Isham. Could it finally be summer? What better to do on a summer’s day than to wander by the seaside? However, for a city on the coast, Southampton only has a few spots to actually be beside the seaside, and even then, there’s no sand for comfort....
Suburban Safari: Lost in Lords Wood
by Katie Isham. Don’t tell too many people but, a mere skip from Southampton General Hospital, tucked away at the back of a 1960s housing estate, down a road guarded by the endemic sight of Tesco that used to be a pub, there’s a gateway to a hidden woodland....
Suburban Safari: The Bluebell Bandwagon
by Katie Isham. Well, everyone else is doing it, so I suppose we’d better jump on the bluebell bandwagon! If you glance at social media, the whole country has been skipping through ancient woodland in the last few weeks. Bluebell photos have been outnumbering Line of Duty theories, and...
Suburban Safari: City Safari
by Katie Isham. Meet you at the bridge? Fellow eastsiders will be all too familiar with the hassle of crossing the mighty River Itchen to get into Southampton city centre. And as a teenager, it was a trek comparable to crossing the Sahara. But cross it we did, every...
Suburban Safari Part Nineteen – Back to the Beach
by Katie Isham. Restrictions are lifting, travel is allowed and so the time has come. We’re visiting the Solent shoreline. A trip to the beach is not just about the destination: it’s about the feeling of space you get by the sea. It’s that feeling you get nowhere else,...