Sights of Nottingham: Sutton Bonington Campus

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The University of Nottingham has several campuses located across Nottingham -- the main University Park Campus, the new Jubilee Campus, the converted King's Meadow Campus, and to be covered today, the Sutton Bonington Campus.

Sutton Bonington is a (very, very) small village to the south of Nottingham city, along the edge of Nottinghamshire. A half-hour bus ride away from University Park, along which there is nothing but breathtaking countryside views to see, the Sutton Bonington Campus is so far from the centre of Robin Hood county that its official postal address actually says "Leicestershire" (pronounced 'less-stir-sheer') instead of "Nottinghamshire". I assure you that, however, Sutton Bonington safely falls within the realm of the totally-awesome Nottinghamshire.

Compared to the rest of the campuses, Sutton Bonington Campus is relatively peaceful and quiet. I dropped in to visit in the middle of the week, and it's hard to imagine how deserted the place would be during the long summer break.

It was a good thing I took the time off that autumn day, because Sutton Bonington sported some of the best autumn views, being less-developed. The leaves going 'crunch-crunch' under your feet, while more flutter past you with the gentlest breezes. Colourful berries littered everywhere, leaving the floor much more interesting than the top of the trees.

If only I had better photography skills back then.

As far as I know, the campus started out as an independent university before being taken over by the University of Nottingham about half a century ago. Most modules taught in the Sutton Bonington Campus are agriculture or at least biology-related. This is easily seen as the campus has countless greenhouses and outdoor farms all over it.

The greenhouses sheltered many plants, probably projects of students. Most commonly seen were tomatoes, some juicier than others. There were also dozens of flowers I have seen but never bothered to find their names out (typical guy), and more of herbs and fruits and veggies.

There is also a barn, with dairy cows getting milked daily with the latest technology R&D'ed by no one else but students and professors of the University. Unfortunately, the barn was closed off to visitors.

I caught sight of a few horses though.

Pardon my poor editing skills. I can't believed I sent this photo home to my family.

I can't explain it, but I swear I could just sit down in the middle of the lawn and stare at the horses for a big part of a morning. They're so strong yet silent; valiant and graceful; powerful, and still friendly. Nobody, not even a Victoria Beckham on drugs can catch my eye for that long.

A campus comes with a library, of course. That was the only place I visited which was occupied with more than few people that day.

All in all, the campus offered great sights, and I certainly visited the place at the right time. Being born in a busy town, you can bet a peace-lover like me enjoyed the trip there, however boring it may sound to most of my peers.

I mean, it's not everyday I get to see things like a big, yellowing tree growing over an old wooden fence beside a field wide enough to house the entire Vatican.

Or the last golden rays of the evening sun laying on brown leaves over a wooden countryside gate.

Except perhaps in movies.

It was a simple, but beautiful campus.

And I don't remember breathing in fresher air before this.

Well, all those sights weren't as surprising as this.

You may want to click on the picture to view a higher resolution version to read the text.

Well anyway, time passed by, and soon before long, the afternoon was over and I hopped on a bus and departed Sutton Bonington.

Sunset photo, on the way back to civilisation.

I caught over 600 photos that single day.

Plants were everywhere. Even on the walls.

Most of them turned out to be utter rubbish, and I can't believe that I'm only satisfied with less than 50 of them.

Well at least I got one step further in photography, and I get to enjoy peace and tranquillity for that one special afternoon in the middle of the semester.