147 acres of beautiful rolling parkland
Our parkland and park walks are free to be used by the whole family throughout the day. Relaxing with a book under the trees or having a football match with all your family and friends are just two ways in which you could utilise the open spaces we offer to their full potentional. Here are few more!
Wicksteed Park Lake
Our Lakeside Walks are looking lovelier than ever.
In 2013, Wicksteed Park was successful in achieving Heritage Lottery Funding to support The Wicksteed Charitable Trust’s ambitious £3 million pound Lake Restoration Project, ‘to restore it to its former glory as the focal point of the Park.’ The project aimed to restore the character of the lake, reinstate views, enhance habitats for its flora and fauna, and increase access around it.
Discover more about the lake walk and its natural habitats.
Gorgeous grounds
Gather the family and bring along all your favourite food and drink along with a blanket to sit on and fun games and toys to play with.
Here at Wicksteed Park we encourage families to come together and enjoy a day in the fresh air eating, playing and smiling. Forgot to bring a certain item? Don’t worry, our shops and cafes are sure to prevent you from missing out on quenching your thirst and feeding your hunger!
Family photo opportunities
You don’t need to break the bank to enjoy all the things Wicksteed Park has to offer. Taking a stroll around the 147 acres of parkland offers plenty of exciting things to see and do. Visit the life-sized bronze figures – modelled on two young visitors to the park – showing a girl and a boy holding hands and paddling in the lake.
Family photo opportunities also include our wicker stag, a paddling area for toddlers, a stone stack and other natural play features, as well as gorgeous park walks and gardens we also have many fantastic rides and attractions for the family.
Wicksteed Charitable Trust
The Wicksteed Charitable Trust receives no regular external funding to help maintain the park as a truly unique, freely accessible public space. You can help to preserve the park for future generations by making donations. All money raised is used to help maintain the park and its grounds.
Amphitheatre
Our grassy amphitheatre is very comfy for singing, dancing and general larking about. You can even hire it out for special events. All together now…
Arboretum
Planted in the Seventies, our arboretum is now a lovely mature wood full of exotic trees. The leafy glades are a nice place to sit and read a book – or try to see how many squirrels you can spot shooting up the tree trunks.
Gardens
Our small team of gardeners do an excellent job at managing our formal gardens as well as creating new pockets of interest all around the park. We are always on the look out for green fingered volunteers to help us out.
Motte & Bailey
Want to be King of the Castle? Just behind our arboretum are the remains of a Norman motte-and-bailey – a 900-year-old castle! The motte (earthworks) is easily visible at either end. This land is managed for us by the local Wildlife Trust, so please keep your pooch on a lead.
Roundhouse
Restored by our very own team of carpenters, this is our original 1920s roundhouse, which has been neglected for years. It’s now a key part of the lakeside, providing shade when it’s sunny, and shelter from those little summer showers England gets now and then.
Watermeadow
Across the A6 (AKA Barton Road) is another historical gem. Before fancy fertilisers, farmers used to improve their crops by flooding their fields with river water using specially-dug canals. Local volunteers helped restore these canals to create our watermeadow: a beautiful habitat full of sedge, reeds – and lots and lots of birds.