Days out Northamptonshire - Country Parks

In Northamptonshire we are luckily enough to have 5 brilliant country parks to walk, cycle and play and hopefully tire out the kids.

Next time you are stuck for somewhere to go maybe check out one of these.  All country parks are open all day, every day.  Parking is £3.00 daily. Country parks annual car park passes are available.  The cost of an annual season ticket is £49.00 to cover all five parks or £36.00 for parking in one named park.

All country parks have car parks and facilities.  The parking charges are currently £3 for up to 4 hours and £5 for over. For more information click on the link https://www.northamptonshireparks.co.uk/Pages/home.aspx

Sywell Country Park

Sywell has a beautiful reservoir to walk around, sand pit outdoor play area, woodland play area with tunnels/big slide and an indoor play area for the little ones which is attached to the case and open 10am to 3pm.

7:00am to 7:00pm daily (except Christmas Day)

Cycling is not permitted within Sywell Country Park

Pump House Cafe open daily (except Christmas Day

Brixworth Country Park

Brixworth sits beside Pitsford Reservoir and you regularly see boats sailing/canoes/windsurfing.  There's signposted easy walks, play area and cycle routes.  For the more active you can do the 7.5 mile Pitsford water trail.

• Free admission
• Free WiFi
• Cycle hire
• Willow Tree Café open 10am to 4.30 pm (5pm Saturday and Sunday)

Pitsford Cycle - Bike hire and shop

Irchester Country Park

Former Ironstone quarry with lovely walks around the trees, big play area, jungle parc high ropes and Narrow Gauge Railway Museum.

Free Admission but additional charge for high ropes

Quarrymans Rest Cafe open daily except Christmas Day

Jungle Parc Adventurer Course Price per child £14.00 (free for supervising adults)

Xplorer Course Price per person £20.00 (participants aged 10-adult) Family Ticket £70.00 for 4 participants.

Jungle Parc

Fermyn Woods Country Park

By Rockingham Forest this country park is slightly smaller with a great play area.

• Skylark Café - Open 10:00am to 4:45pm daily March to October    
• Open 11:00am to 3:00pm weekdays November to February
• Open 10:30am to 4:00pm weekends November to February 
• Toilets - Open 8:30pm to 5:30pm daily (except Christmas Day and New Year's Day
  

Barnwell Country Park

This country park is located in Nene Valley. 3 waterside trails, boules court, play area and lots of ducks to feed.

Toilets 8:30am to 6:00pm daily

Kingfisher Café open daily.  10am until 4pm weekdays, closes 5pm weekends.

Emma xxx
Life in the Mum's Lane

For more parks check out my guides

Corby - Corby Parks & Playgrounds
Irthlingborough - Irthlingborough Parks & Playgrounds
Wellingborough - Wellingborough Parks & Playgrounds
Northampton & villages - Northampton Parks & Playgrounds

Majorca - A perfect family holiday

We love Majorca.  The weather is amazing, short flights, great beaches and lots of resorts to choose from make it a perfect family holiday.  We have stayed in Cala Millor & Puerto Pollensa as a family. In my younger days I also visited the infamous Magaluf. If you are travelling abroad with children my number one tip is to book early. Both times we visited Majorca I booked early and got a discount and one child free. Majorca has loads of amazing places to stay & beautiful resorts.

For bookable excursions I can recommend - 

Pirates Adventure Show

Pirates Adventure

Marineland Mallorca

Marineland 

Western Waterpark 

Western Park

The activities can be expensive. If you can only afford one I would highly recommend Pirates which we all loved. It was a late night for the kids but they loved it and my son slept on the coach back to resort.

When we stayed in Cala Millor we rented a buggy which was brilliant (we hired a six seater). The kids happily sat in the in the front & we peddled along the coastline stopping for a drink & paddle in the sea & also played mini golf in nearby Sa Coma.  They were  both cheap and fun activities.

The resort of Puerto Pollensa is beautiful and I would thoroughly recommend.