North Hinksey Nature Reserve

An overgrown mess, pretty rubbish

North Hinksey Nature reserve is a pleasant place to visit and to relax. It can be reached from the West Way, the A420, in Botley by going down a road providing access to the Minns Industrial Estate. Visitors can find the reserve at the far end of the road on the right hand side after passing a number of tall office blocks on the left hand side.The reserve is bounded on its western side by Botley cemetery and North Hinksey Lane. It is bounded on its eastern side by the office blocks on the Minns Industrial Estate. It is also virtually next door to Seacourt Nature reserve. They’re separated by the Minns office blocks and by Hinksey Stream. They’re so close together I even wondered whether they might be one and the same.The green site off the Minns road is divided into two. The northern part of the site is an orchard whilst on the southern part there is a brook, a pond, an ornamental garden and a small grassy area.The relationship between these two parts of the green site is not known. North Hinksey Nature reserve is owned by North Hinksey Parish Council. The orchard could be owned by the Botley Community Orchard or it could be owned by North Hinksey Parish Council and just managed by Botley Community Orchard. In other words, the orchard could be a part of the Nature reserve or separate from it. If they are separate then the Nature reserve is very small.Community owned orchards are a rarity. This one has a variety of English fruit trees. I can’t wait for them to mature. The orchard is surrounded on two sides by an attractive wicker style fence.The eastern side of North Hinksey Nature reserve is dominated visually by the high office buildings along the Minns road and by the huge pylon in Seacourt Nature reserve.Visitors to North Hinksey Nature reserve could probably end up imagining they are in one of those wonderful pocket-sized green havens somewhere in the middle of London.I would encourage people to visit both North Hinksey Nature reserve and the Seacourt Nature reserve - which shouldn’t be difficult since they are such close neighbours.