Colourful wild flowers in Brickfields Daisyfield site with Dream in the background

I don’t think walking in the woods can be at all considered strange but should be encouraged for the health benefits alone. We’re blessed in the Sutton, Clock Face and Bold districts in having wonderful woodlands and green space that are so well cared for by Mersey Forest, the Forestry Commission and St.Helens Council. Although presently populated in the main by dog-walkers, they can have enormous health benefits for all. I don’t just mean the well-documented physical benefits of exercise but I can testify how walking in green space improves mental health and overall well-being enormously. I have a stress-related condition and I’ve learnt that walking in woodlands is much more beneficial to me than taking medication. As the Time To Change organisation puts it:

  We all know that exercise is good for our physical health helping to combat problems such as obesity, heart disease, diabetes, colon cancer and high blood pressure, but what about our mental health? Research shows that by exercising in the outdoors and preferably in a green space is more beneficial to us than when we exercise indoors or in urban areas. This is because as humans we have naturally evolved positive feelings towards nature and the outdoors.  

A farm at an entrance to Eggerslack Woods, near Grange-over-Sands has an honesty box for eggs
while back in St.Helens, vandals have recently taken a chunk out of a novel Brickfields bench

Although our woodlands are not as extensive as Eggerslack, in many ways they are nicer as the Cumbrian wood is a bit gloomy as some daylight is blocked out by overhanging trees. The woodland sites that we have in the Sutton district are more open and display some wonderfully colourful wildflowers. Plus there are additional items of interest, such as at Griffin Wood where the remarkable sculpture trail has been installed.

There are in fact six sites in the Sutton Manor / Clock Face district that are very closely connected and which make for a great combined walk. Last year I received an email from James Murphy with 'Sutton Manor and Clockface Park a little gem!’ in the message's subject line. James wrote that he was soon to complete his 100th walk around Merseyside and had recently visited St.Helens to walk here:

  I have just discovered Sutton Manor and Clockface Park as far as Maypole Wood. I am very, very impressed. These are more connected than I first imagined. Perhaps, more could be made of this. I had imagined walking through roads or through an industrial landscape. I now know that this is not the case and was very pleased to go from one to the other so seamlessly.