Temple Hall Farm Regional Park, Leesburg

23 April 2016

This was my first time here, and according to my initial impression, this is less of a park and more of a farm.

Temple Hall is a heritage farm, meaning that it keeps "heritage" breeds of various farm animals. Heritage breeds have fallen out of favor with industrial farming, but the latter's severe monoculture represents a dangerous risk. This farm preserves hardier but less controllable breeds of chickens, hens, horses, etc.

There's supposed to be a nature trail, and while I found signs pointing to it, after I walked a few dozens yards into the nearby woods, I encountered an old, boarded up bridge listing a good 15 degrees to the side. That seemed to be the only path forward to the trail, so I reversed course and continued on another direction, only to discover I had apparently found the bridle trail. This then crossed the same stream, but while horses could ford it at this point, it was too deep for me.

Sadly, I arrived too close to closing time to make fruitful inquiries back at the main building, so I walked back along the bridle trail, taking occasional pictures. Such is life. I'll be back!