Well-being, or feeling good, is all about achieving the best possible state for our mind, body and soul. Nature gives us, for free, the ideal inspiration for feeling calm, healthy and happy, especially if we immerse ourselves in beautiful, tranquil countryside settings.
Maes Mynan Park offers this and so much more.
As an exclusive countryside holiday park, for holiday homeowners only, Maes Mynan Park offers unrivalled countryside views, an abundance of nature, a diverse variety of wildlife and stunning rustic woodland to enjoy and explore.
Not everyone wants to get involved in some of the well-being ideas that are suggested on the internet and in self-help books, but here we want to explore simple ideas that are really easy to do, without seeming too wacky! On the other hand, if our suggestions (even just reading this blog) make you smile and laugh, then they worked, and it doesn’t matter how wacky they sound!
Here are our 10 easy well-being suggestions and activities.
Could they work for you, even if you’re not a believer in the health benefits of nature?
Every one of our well-being suggestions are accessible from your holiday home on Maes Mynan Holiday Park.
1. Immerse yourself in the seasons and notice all the small changes around you every single day you stay in your country holiday home.
There is nothing more satisfying than looking out of your holiday home window, taking a walk around Maes Mynan Park, or sitting on your deck, to watch and experience the changing light, colours and scents of the seasons.
From Spring through to Winter, there is always something new to feel, see and experience on Maes Mynan Holiday Park – all thanks to nature, which is the perfect tonic for your inner sense of peace and well-being.
Spring offers the rebirth of trees, flowers, birds and animals. The fresh scents of Spring promise shoots of greenery, uncurling leaves of trees, pretty blossoms and early morning sunshine, along with a promise of a glorious technological dream coat of colours to follow.
Summer brings a hazy breeze that bathes us all with an optimism of sunshine and warmth. It brings us the bloom of the evening primrose in sunshine yellow and buddleia in purple and pinks. The Swallows swoop with their flashes of metallic bluey blacks, brick red and white over the lakes. The Jays showcase their beautiful patches of blue, the bullfinch their rose pink cheeks, chest and belly and the goldfinch’s blaze of colour are a treat to see. The shadows elongate in the long late afternoons to create a romantic glow on Moel Y Parc, perfect for sitting back on your deck to watch it all unfold, with a drink in hand.
Autumn at Maes Mynan Park, brings the kaleidoscope change in colours, which is hard to beat. The Oaks, sycamores, willows, alder, silver birch, beech, elderflower, sweet chestnut and poplar, all have their own special range of colours to share. Even the brambles add a different hue to the paths around Maes Mynan Park.
Winter brings its own appealing bleakness. The crisp air heightens the panoramic views across moorlands and hills. Gone is the summer haze, replaced by a sharp, crisp frost that brings a new scent and a promise of snow!
Everyone experiences the seasons differently. But seek and you will find. Every day will offer you a new well-being experience at Maes Mynan Park, once you open your eyes to the wonders of nature’s seasonal offers.
2. Take a walk around the Maes Mynan Holiday Park paths.
Exercise is key to feeling great. This is one of the top well-being ‘must-do’s’. Maes Mynan Holiday Parks offers acres of paths to explore, without leaving the grounds. Venture into the Sequoia woodland, walk around the lakes and trek the tracks and footpaths. Secret finds within the grounds are keepers for a walk another day, where with a book in hand, you can sit and enjoy your hidden peaceful solitude.
If you feel adventurous, without getting into the car, explore the quiet country lanes or local footpaths, all within easy distance from your holiday home. Walk to Caerwys on the local footpaths for a Sunday breakfast, or why not explore the lanes and Offas Dyke pathways to venture to the Dinorben Arms in Bodfari for Sunday lunch, afternoon tea or early doors (dogs welcome).
3. Take a picnic and find a favourite spot to sit within Maes Mynan Park grounds
Having a picnic outdoors is a great way to connect with nature.
A picnic can be simply a lunch laid out on a blanket, in a spot that says ‘happiness’ to you. Or it could be a secret place that involves a little trek into the woods, where a log acts as your seat. Or it could be a grander affair on the deck of your holiday home!
Wherever you choose for your picnic on Maes Mynan Park, the best of it is eating out of doors, where you can hear the sounds of the birds and the rustle of the trees.
I have a favourite place to sit when exploring Maes Mynan Park, I just need to take my picnic and book next time!
4. Nature trail – seek and you will find!
Nature trails, around Maes Mynan Park, will lead to the discovery of a wide variety of wild flowers. I love to collect them, identify them and put them in a vase, except I always leave the poisonous ones behind!
We have several wilding areas around Maes Mynan Holiday Park, so it’s easy to find something of interest to look at, regardless of the season and time of year.
I love the poppies, the teasels, the early common orchids, the evening primrose flowers. The purples of the pesky thistles are also a work of art.
Every flower, petal and stem have intricate patterns that are unique to nature. Discovering the shapes is just part of the fun and if you are an artist, you can always create your own masterpiece on canvas too.
Nature trails aren’t just about flowers. It’s also about discovering animal footprints, their tunnels and tracks and identifying who goes where! Badgers, foxes, polecat, rabbits, hares, stoats and squirrels are just a few of our favourite residents around Maes Mynan Park.
We also have an abundance of toads and frogs, with a few common newts to boot. The grass snake is also around, for those who like to seek out reptiles. If you’re lucky, you’ll find the odd lizard too, especially when it’s hot and dry!
Finally, we mustn’t forget the insects! Bees, ladybirds, butterflies, dragonflies, grasshoppers and crickets, who are all part of the biodiverse natural world at Maes Mynan Park.
Staying in harmonious countryside and in proximity to nature, offers a contentment often missing in towns and cities, which is just one of the benefits of owning a holiday home at Maes Mynan Park.
5. Foraging for wild foods around Maes Mynan Park is easy
Foraging for wild foods will connect you to nature and will inspire your culinary skills too.
Spring through to autumn will offer you plenty of opportunity to trek around the wilder parts of Maes Mynan Park, collecting treasures that can be turned into something delicious in your holiday home kitchen.
Wild Garlic (Ramsons) pops up along the damp woodland paths in Spring. You’ll find plenty of young garlic leaves along the Maes Mynan paths. Pick it when it is young and tender and make yourself a pesto! Have a look at this link, if you are a lover of the garlic flavour and want to find out more.
If you take a walk around Maes Mynan Park from late May through to early September, you will notice the sunshine yellow Evening Primrose flowers. They grow in the wilding areas around Maes Mynan Park. Did you know you can make a salad dressing with the flowers?
It’s easy. Just take a glass jar and lid, sterilize it. Go for a walk and collect evening primrose flowers that are completely dry (no dew or rain), so pick on a dry sunny day. Fill your sterilized glass jar with the evening primrose flowers without stuffing them tight. Add olive oil to the jar until all the flowers are covered. Stir lightly to ensure there are no hidden trapped air bubbles. Put the lid on the jar and let it all sit and stew naturally for two weeks. Shake every day. After two weeks, strain the oil to remove the flowers. Serve as your salad dressing.
During the summer you can wander the paths of Maes Mynan Park to pick juicy cherry’s, wild raspberries and early blackberries. Eat them all as you pick or take them back to your holiday home and turn them into your favourite jam, tart, pie or crumble.
For September and early autumn, check out this blog from the Woodland Trust for ideas. You’ll find plenty of rowan and hawthorn berries on Maes Mynan Park, so have a go and making something nutritional and tasty with your foraged fruits.
For late autumn and winter, have a look here for some ideas for beech nuts, cob nuts and damsons – all of which are found around Maes Mynan Park.
I always feel great eating what I find on my walks around Maes Mynan Park. Now I plan to try my hand at some culinary delights too! Are you?
6. Bird watching
Bird watching at Maes Mynan is a dream come true for many. From the comfort of holiday homes, it’s a perfect spot to watch the winter feeding frenzies on the bird feeders and trees. Robins, woodpeckers, tree creepers, blue tits, chaffinches, to name a few, are frequent visitors, as are their babies in the Spring!
The buzzards, owls, swans, greylag geese and swans all love the lakes, as do the coots, kingfisher, heron, moorhens, tufted ducks, drakes, as well as the odd mandarin duck!
If you love to watch nature at its finest, bird watching is the perfect way to go. Discovering new visitors is always a delight. Families of redstarts, swallows, swifts and house martins all swoop down for summer insects too.
There will be many more species of birds to observe – I am just not the best Twitcher in the world! I got very excited this year, when I saw my first Bullfinch outside my office window.
It’s a wonderful feeling to know that all the work we have done to improve the landscape and grounds of Maes Mynan Park is attracting new birdlife visitors to share in the parkland.
7. Butterfly counting
Butterfly heaven can be found on the buddleia shrubs. There are hundreds of them enjoying the shrubs outside the office and everywhere you walk alongside the wilding areas of Maes Mynan Park.
Butterfly conservation is important and counting the species is an excellent way to while away free time wandering around in the open air at Maes Mynan during the summer months. Feel good watching the beauty of the Admiral and Peacock Butterflies unfurl and admire their vibrant colours.
To find out more about butterfly conservation, take a look at this website.
8. Tree hugging
Studies show that hugging a tree can help you relax!
Well if you are going to hug a tree, may I suggest you choose the Sequoia, as it has a unique bark that is worth a closer look and feel. It is fury and spongy because it has evolved to protect the inner tree trunk from fire and drought – perfect for our climate change crisis.
As luck has it, we have a sequoia woodland at Maes Mynan Park. So if you venture along the tracks, or up the field and through the little pedestrian gate, you will find the perfect setting to hug a tree. If you look carefully, there are even a few tree stumps to discover, where you can sit amongst the tall redwoods to absorb the woodland’s peaceful calmness.
9. Moon and star gazing
We are all intricately connected to the moons and the stars, just as we are to water, be it lakes, streams or the sea.
There is nothing more relaxing (and romantic) than enjoying the pure beauty of the moon and the stars from the decking of your holiday home. Bathe in the moonlight and feel a calmness spread over you. Breathe in the air and relax.
Star gazing is great too, especially as there are smartphone apps that will help you identify a constellation, which will change at different times of the year.
Have you taken a moonlight walk? Try it and see how you feel afterwards.
10. Sound bathing
Sound bathing can be a meditative experience, but for me, I love to listen to the sound of the birds – especially the chaffinch – as they sing to their hearts content.
Listening to sound is one of the five senses that is important for relaxation. Do you sit and listen to the sound of the rustling silver birch and beech trees? Their natural sound lulls you into a quiet calmness.
Today, I can hear the sound of the leaves blowing in the gentle warm breeze as I finish this blog from my desk. I love it!
Maes Mynan Holiday Park is a special place for the discerning holiday homeowner.
To find out more about our holiday homes for sale – luxury lodges and static caravans – please get in touch.
Book a tour or call us on 01352 720808 or 07917876819.
