Sywell Country Park

In an earlier post I mentioned that we had purchased a yearly parking permit for Northamptonshire Country Parks. As we had plenty of time today we decided to visit one of the parks a little further away.

I'd not been to Sywell since I worked for Mencap over ten years ago. Then, it was just a reservoir and open space. They've now developed it to include a play area, butterfly garden, gift shop and small cafe.

It was nice to visit a different park but it isn't one I would rush back to. Don't get me wrong, we had a lovely time but Barnwell/East Carlton/Fermyn country parks all have a lot more going for them. My son didn't agree with me, he said he loved the play area, reservoir and being able to collect pine cones.

To get to the play area you have to walk down either steps or a slope. It is kind of sunken and surrounded by high walls. The whole area is covered in sand. It felt too closed in, we couldn't appreciate the open space of the park from the play area.

At lunch time we headed to Kettering and enjoyed a Pizza Hut buffet lunch. It always makes me chuckle when I have five or six children with me as you can see people looking and wondering if they are all mine. I have to say that the children were the best behaved in the restaurant. There was only one table with high stools available but the two toddlers sat perfectly. The older children love the buffet style lunch and feel very grown up going to help themselves to food.

We headed home after lunch as one of the children was going home at 2.30pm. We decided to go to East Carlton to finish the day off. It isn't often the weather is so nice so we thought we better make the most of it.