
May 12, 2025, by sustainablenottingham
Chancellor Baroness Lola Young on the importance of connecting with nature during Sustainability Action Week 2025
The University of Nottingham Campus is expansive and strikingly ‘rural’ in spite of being so close to the bustling City of Nottingham. When I first started visiting the university, I was immediately drawn to the various routes—the greener the better—to different facilities and offices. Let’s take the longest route, I would say to whoever accompanied me. Now I’ve become more confident finding my way around, I will add on extra time for exploring a new pathway back to my hotel.

Chancellor Baroness Lola Young
During the late 1970s I lived and worked in Nottingham. I’d barely been outside my patch of north London before that. My knowledge of the area was based on the tv series Robin Hood and I was shocked to find that Sherwood Forest actually existed! My happiest times in theatre were at Nottingham Playhouse, due in large part to learning how to ride. Outings on horseback through the forest, and boating on the lake greatly contributed to my good memories of that time, which was otherwise quite difficult.

Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire
Living in London I’m hugely appreciative of the parks, woods and rivers that run through the city. Even those of us who love urban living need a break from the concrete, steel and glass which surrounds us every so often.

Finsbury Park, London
Recently during a stressful week or so, I literally ran away from a friend, telling her I had to go walk and around the lake at our local park. The steady rumble of buses and cars can still be heard trundling along Seven Sisters’ Road, yet these fade into the distance once I stepped through the gated entry to the park. There’s also a ’secret’ path along a former railway line that in its longest form provides a leafy walk through ancient woods, where in the summer months, trees block the visual and aural clues of the urban setting. Birdsong rules!
There’s plenty of research evidencing the health benefits of what we call nature. So all this is to say that we neglect these very different settings at our peril. We may not even notice the impact on our sense of well-being at anything other than vaguely feeling a bit better after a walk or gazing at a lake, a river or a forest. But the sensory relief from the modern, pressured world, and entry into a differently ordered, greener setting is essential for our physical and mental well-being.
Baroness Lola Young is Chancellor of the University of Nottingham, and author of Eight Weeks: Looking Back, Moving Forwards, Defying the Odds, pub Penguin: Fig Tree, 2024’
Find out about all the events and activities happening as part of Sustainability Action Week 2025. There are several nature and wellbeing events as well as tours, online talks, and much more.
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