My very special haunt, and one that I visit every single day, is Newtown Wood, just about a mile from my home here in Tramore.
Only yesterday a couple stopped me at the top of the wood, where I’d parked the car, and asked: Where does that path go?
For me, it’s a path that leads to peace, ever-changing nature and the sea. Newtown Wood goes back to the O’Neill-Power family, of the now sadly decrepit Newtown House who planted the trees almost two hundred years ago.
Newtown Wood is the place where I think, plan and go forward with renewed anticipation each day. I know it so well, at this stage, that I feel I can read its every change and mood, just as it seems to be able to read mine.
Here’s a sense of how it has been over the last few mornings when I’ve been there with ‘puppy’ Stan:
I’d love to hear about your special haunt and/or the place where you take your daily constitutional.
SOCIAL BRIDGE ~ Jean Tubridy connecting with you from Ireland 
I can see why that is where you take your daily constitutional! I’d do the same if I had that in my “backyard”… mind you, I do have a nice pathway that I take regularly which leads to a river so I’ll take that! Maybe I’ll take Zeke and go there right after my coffee!
Dale, many thanks for writing. I suspect I’d be taking your river walk if I were in your shoes. Water is key for me, somewhere along the way!
beautiful
Thanks very much, Smilyking. I’m glad you enjoyed the post.
Newtown House is another reminder of former times, so many of them in Ireland.
Hardly a constitutional but I walk through Howard Davis Park twice a day going to/from work. The gardening staff are on the go from early morning and it’s a pleasure to see the results of what they do. Then, a couple of times a year the place is invaded with lorries and trucks setting up for big concerts – Tom Jones recently. The staff must cry as the grass is cut to ribbons after all their attention. This year they removed historic old pillars so the trucks could get in through a side entrance. I put an objection in and at least now they have to rebuild the pillars, albeit further apart.
Roy, yes, it’s quite amazing how many of these lovely houses are falling down around us here. I think there’s still a good deal of hope for Newtown House, though.
It must be lovely walking through Howard Davis Park every day. Such a gorgeous place. Glad to hear that you managed to ‘save’ the pillars from extinction.
My special haunt is the woods, too. There are some at the top of my road that lead up to the South Downs. I also love a local official beauty spot that’s a river estuary with an old meandering river (including some ox-bow lakes) that leads out into the English Channel.
Sarah, your haunts sound wonderful ~ love that word ‘meandering!’
Gorgeous, the woods, the sea and an intriguing ‘ruin’, I can understand why it’s a special place. Mine is our local island, a small tidal island with a lighthouse, reached by a causeway at low tide.
Andrea, your special place sounds stunning. Love the idea of it depending so much on the tide and, of course, lighthouses are super-special!
I love the word “constitutional.” My worthless online dictionary lists it as an adjective only, as in “determine whether a law is constitutional.” Resorting to my ancient Webster’s with the red binding that I have used for many decades (since high school days), I found the word properly defined as “a walk taken for one’s health.” I was so very glad to see this, as it vindicates my understanding of the term. For many years, I was convinced (embarassingly) that I had got it all wrong, due to a college chum’s insistence that the word refers to what one does when sitting upon the loo of a morning! Apparently, I am too easily influenced by dunderheads who would sell me a bill of goods.
UG, many thanks for writing. You made me smile Must say I love the concept of a ‘daily constitutional.’