Never before have I seen Bushy Park as busy as last weekend; the sun was out, all of the flowers had bloomed and people flooded to large open expanses of grassland and forest, making an effort to social distance whilst doing so. Although the park is never quiet when the weather is good, I think the current situation has made us appreciate things, like our parks, that we’ve previously taken for granted.
Our parks have been with us for as long as we can remember, with Bushy Park in particular being used as Henry VIII’s deer-hunting grounds in the 16th Century, yet we have never appreciated them so much as during the last couple of weeks. For many others and I, our daily exercise has become the highlight of our day; being a chance to take a break from the hours upon hours spent staring at screens, especially given the start of a new term of online learning.
However, before we were all confined to our homes, quite the opposite was true: we were craving a bit of downtime at home to catch up on the latest Netflix series and sleep for hours upon end. Yet, now that we have been given such a luxury, we have started to appreciate the small things we usually take for granted. Our local area is full of beautiful parks and green spaces, giving us an escape from the concrete and steel of housing estates and shopping streets. Before, we would walk to school through such spaces without giving it a thought, yet now that they have been taken away from us, apart from our daily exercise, we can understand how incredibly beneficial they are for both our physical and mental wellbeing.
It has never been so important that we connect to nature and take care of our minds and bodies, and parks offer the perfect space to do this. Anything from a walk with the dog, a cycle or run allows us to take a break, clear our minds and appreciate the beauty all around us we seldom notice. It is imperative that we get out of the house, once a day, to break any feelings of cabin fever and take advantage of the environment on our doorstep. Never again will we take our beautiful parks for granted.
Toby Gwynne
