Today I chose Bourton park because it wasn’t far away and there wasn’t a lot of info so guessed it’d be fairly quiet. This reduced the risk of Clark coughing on other kids and spreading his germs! I wasn’t far of, it was dead. This could be down to not being able to find the blinking place. However is such a large area that’s hidden amoungst houses and trees with the river Ouse running through. It’s pretty nice shit loads better than Garth frigging park anyway!
Sick kids
3 sodding days the kids have been back to school and he’s already got a sickness bug. Vom everywhere all night Friday! Great!
Husband was off with one if his 2 friends to watch some crappy football so I had the day with sick note and screech. I can not bear staying in all day alone with those two! God no as soon as he’d managed to hold down some water and food we were out of there. It’s ok I’m not totally evil he gave his consent to get out of the house.
Clark took his scooter. It’s great to scoot and ride a long so take wheels with you if you want. We didn’t get to explore the whole place because Elliot was being a douche and mine and Clark’s energy wasn’t exactly brimming. We gave it a good go though.
Equipment
Walked over some bridges, pretty nice, saw some trees again pretty nice saw some more bits (you get the jist) then we came across the park…..Pretty nice. It’s in a lovely setting, has great bouncy face twatting floor protection and it’s timber framed 🙂 the climbing frame/house is really funky. Off the kids shot up the cargo net to the top…..
Some guy then come over And warned us about the tunnel slide. We didn’t see that it was caked in bird shit! It makes my blood boil why aren’t the bird owners cleaning up after their birds (?? joking of course) lovely of them to warn us. Personally I’d have kept shut and watched in glee as someone else’s kids arses cleaned the slide for everyone else. Alas I got the wipes out and cleaned up the genetically modified bird turds (god knows what type of birds made that mess!) At least the kids could crack on with the super slippy slide now.
Older kids play area
It’s a nice play area and this is the one for older kids. I felt comfortable letting Elliot roam and go on the Equipment just keep close by on the big frame oh and make sure they don’t run into the zip wires path. It had a bucket spinner which the boys love. Now does anyone know if you make them dizzy spinning one way will spinning the other way cancel out the dizziness. I’ve not really tried this because i love watching kids act like adults after one too many gins. ? It has another seat spinny bouncy thing which I’ve not seen before. (please tell me where I can find out real names for playground equipment) they have a nice little obstacle course part too and a net swing.
Toddler play area
Now onto the toddler park. I really dont get this, maybe it’s because its not been updated yet but this one is a big feck off metal everything park. Now it’s pretty cool but in my opinion wayyyy more dangerous than the older kids park. Maybe Buckinghamshire have taken it upon themselves to thin out the growing population? Anyway this one does have the added bonus of it being fenced in (albeit the gates a bit broken so doesn’t fully shut)
You’ll find the swings in here too with another slide, the springy face smashers and some balancing bits for the kids to fall off. We actually spent more time in here because the climbs were more fun and challenging for them. Elliot only nearly died once which for him is pretty good. Does anyone else have a toddler that gets to the top of where they’re climbing then thinks “all done” and just wants down there and then? Nope cant be arsed to climb down wheres the fun in that when you can bungee down without the bungee!
Time for a walk
Parks done off we went for a walk. Oh how the children squealed with delight when they heard the words walkies (should have gotten dogs) Ah dogs my favourite turd machines 😉 feel free to take your dogs but please heed to the signs. Keep them on leads apart from in the designated fenced area where the dogs can go nuts. I absolutely love this idea.
There are so many kids out there that are scared and so many kids that will want to stroke any dog. Now I know most people think they have the kindest dog in the world but unfortunately like humans you can’t read their minds. One min they’ll be fine and next min they could be glassing you because you said he was short. (humans that is, Dogs cant pick up a glass stupid….or can they?) Anyway result is everything ran smoother not a dog turd in sight (not to worry the birds more than made up for it)
Water areas
We went on a small walk and came across the waterfalls. Really pretty feature apart from some litter but nothing too bad. The kids loved watching the water and throwing sticks in further upstream and racing them.
We then walked round the path to a pond with some wooden otters and some stepping stones. Kids had a play again then I’d had enough. We had circled back to the play park at this point so they had another quick go each then we headed back to the car.
I feel like we haven’t seen a lot of this park so it’s going to be difficult to answer about the toilets etc so please if you’ve been here and you know feel free to share so we can better inform everyone. We didn’t see any toilets or cafe but i know you could walk into town in around 20mins (according to signage)
Bourton park stats
Distance from Bicester: 23 mins
Sat nav: Bourton park, Buckingham MK18 7AB Click for directions
Wheelchair friendly: yes
Equipment upkeep: 7/10 some parts need updating on the metal frame.
Cleanliness: 8/10 fair bit of litter but nothing too bad
Facilities: 4/10 No toilets or cafe. You will have to walk into the town.
Age range: All ages
Safety: 6/10 metal park and a fair amount of water to keep an eye out for
Fun factor: 8/10
Dog friendly: yes
Conclusion
If we were all feeling better and the sun had come out I believe we could have spent a fair few hours here and had a great time. That’s not to say we didn’t have fun because we did. It’s a lovely space for lots of activities and it was all completely free. It’s worth a look if you’re in the area, have a dog or just want something easy and free to do. There are better places but they’re a much longer drive this is 20mins away with lots to do. Pretty sure it has a skate park too.
For a list of more free parks to visit in the area click HERE
There are no toilets and no cafe
Just updated. Thank you for the information.