Pensthorpe Natural Park - All New For 2019!

Pensthorpe Natural Park – All New For 2019!

We’ve long loved Pensthorpe Natural Park and have found much to do here on ever visit we’ve made. I don’t really think it needed any improving, or rather I didn’t but now that renovations have been created I love them! This place has had a mini, yet significant overhaul and all of the new elements are family focused while giving the place a real feel of being open and accessible to all. I am so surprised how buggy (and I assume wheelchair) friendly this place is because on paper it’s a nature walk which should be quite hard going but in reality it’s the easiest place to be with wheels and we LOVE it!

We love it for the walk which is open and natural and full of creatures big and small with touches like bug hotels and art work dotted about the trees and wild flowers as well as beautifully landscaped areas to sit, enjoy and picnic. We love it for the water and land birds (as well as the flamingos) who have always lived here and we LOVE it for their extensive playgrounds both inside and out. We just love it!

Feeding the birds is a highlight and hysterical to watch as the children want to do it, can’t go and not do it, but are frightened all the same!

Everything has so thoughtfully been put together with a natural feel meaning the play equipment (even indoors) is natural, wooden, and hand built. It’s clear a lot of money is spent in the upkeep of Pensthorpe and it’s clear they continue to make it more and more wonderful with lots of investment! The place is beaming with beauty everywhere you look and I always feel so calm and relaxed when we visit. It’s a hive of brilliance for everyone no matter age or ability.

Playing Pooh-Sticks on the stream is something we love to do when we visit here – we have a special stick finding place that we always go to and then spend ages doing races!

As in everything on the walk – nothing is all singing but everything is a wonder!

And as we wander and chat we find treasures we have always loved and new ones we’ve not seen before!

And our little Mowgli climbs every tree going – I think Pensthorpe is about more than just nature, it’s about taking the simple things in life and turning them into pleasures. Perhaps things we have lost through technology can be revisited and discovered again here!

I love the wild flower garden and so did Raffie as we spotted bees and butterflies!

I could stay in the wild flower garden all day!

But the children (and Jonny) know there’s extensive fun to be had in the play ground!

Where there is a gorgeous stream running through it!

Slides and high ropes and swings and diggers and sand and everything else!

As well, of course, as ice cream! Now I would say here that the ice cream is delicious but a bit over priced… It’s a shame as an extra tenner for the kids to have a cool treat is a bit steep and the only blot on the day!

Hootz House is the indoor play area and again just beautifully done. Soft play without the sticky, stinky, plastic… How they do it I don’t know but they do!

And what’s all the new for 2019 and since our last visit… Oh muchly! Lots of games inviting you to play along the walk and the flamingos have moved to a HUGE enclosure in a part of the reserve i didn’t know was there with a beautiful pond where they used to be for pond dipping. It’s immense and again so delightfully done. Everything looks like it’s in a picture book, an artist’s impression… It’s gorgeous!