If I had written this review of Stanwick Lakes in Northamptonshire in late 2020 / early 2021 it would have been very different! This review is written post fire (I’ll cover that in a minute) but pre re-build. If you haven’t heard of it then Stanwick Lakes is a nature reserve and visitor attraction in the Nene Valley. It’s perfect for families, cyclists, dog walkers, bird watchers (unless my kids are around!), joggers, horse riders and anyone who enjoys being outdoors! There is so much to do here, and it’s an amazing value family day out!
PS – the indoor soft place centre that used to be here has now closed permanently. Apparently it may well become a party room at some stage in the future.
The playground fire at Stanwick Lakes
I’ll start with the crappy bit first. In 2020 a brand new, amazing adventure playground tower was built. Quite frankly it was epic. Then in April 2021 some utter scum (I’m being polite) decided to burn it down!! I was speaking to some of the team today and the amazing news is that work to rebuild the tower will be starting soon and it will be finished by summer 2022.
This, alongside a nest swing, is all that they managed to salvage from the fire!! It’s genuinely shocking that someone could do this.
The adventure playground, sand and water play area
Ok, let’s move on to the good stuff. The fun stuff. You can see it from the car park and the kids were off straight away. This is the part of Stanwick Lakes that we spent TWO hours in – there nearly wasn’t time to review anything else!! The adventure playground. This place it epic. Have I built it up enough yet?
There’s actually several elements to this adventure playground. Near the beginning there’s a nice little play frame over a sand pit with a slide and lots of sand pulleys and chutes. There’s a little sunken boat to play in. Next up is a pole and scramble net play frame, which is surprisingly high! Dotted around are various sculptures and carved chairs, including a massive frog that kept freaking me out! I swear it was watching me
At the back is a massive sand pit – which is where the replacement tower will go. There’s a pirate ship play frame back there at the moment which I think is staying. There’s also some toddler swings off to the side. Personally I loved the little house and slide combo though. It’s so cute!
The main attraction of course is the water play area. Well, it is until the tower goes back in. My lot absolutely loved this and played here for ages. This will give you an idea of how good it was. Smallest Child wanted an ice cream. It took me 15 minutes for Middle Child and his mate to drag themselves away from the water and have an ice cream too. That’s unheard of, even at the beach. The water is constantly flowing so no messing about pushing buttons! If you haven’t brought buckets and spades (we hadn’t) then you can buy them from the kiosk (we didn’t) but TBH most of the kids didn’t have anything either. They were all happy enough just splashing around in the pools and streams and putting sticks into the chutes to see if they’d float, stuff like that. There were also a surprising number of kids climbing OVER the signs saying no climbing. I don’t know if their parents either weren’t watching or didn’t care but stuff like that does annoy me, particularly when it’s then left to a member of staff to go over and tell them to get off!
If you’re going to the adventure play area at Stanwick Lakes you’re going to get wet. It’s a given so bring a towel and a change of clothes. My lot just took their shoes off, but it might be worth taking beach shoes if you’ve got them. Thankfully you’re right next to the car park so it’s easy enough to have a play, have a picnic whilst drying off a bit and then get changed before exploring the rest of the site.
The Assault Course
Who remembers the Krypton Factor?? Side note – just discovered that it finished 26 years ago! I feel very old now. Anyway, I reckon their course was based on the assault course at Stanwick Lakes! You start off with this monstrosity. I call it that because it’s actually REALLY hard for the kids to climb up. The inside of this tube is almost smooth. The only way Smallest Child could make it up was with her shoes and socks off. Her boots just wouldn’t grip. Middle Child has more success with his trainers. I think that maybe wellies would be OK in the winter?
Once you’re inside it’s pretty good fun though. There’s a “laser” maze to get through, monkey bars. slide and fireman’s pole. You might be wondering how I managed to take these photos? Because tow other Mum’s shot me in the foot! They had climbed into the monstrosity, Smallest Child had seen, Smallest Child decided that this clearly meant that I had to get into it to, I nearly broke my back contorting myself around the middle bar at the top of the tube but achieved Super Mum status in Smallest Child’s eyes so all was well. I flat out refused to do the rest of the course though.
There’s some tunnels to scramble through. A MASSIVE scramble net to go up and over. Three increasingly tall climbing walls. A rope swing and a fairly tricky balance beam. Realistically this part of Stanwick Lakes is not for smaller kids. Smallest Child (4) struggled to do the walls and I was nervous as hell whilst she was at the top of the scramble net. The boys (9) were absolutely fine. If the weather has been dry you won’t get too dirty in this bit. If it’s been remotely wet then you will absolutely get mucky though. I think the over-riding theme of this Stanwick Lakes review is probably prepare to get messy – for 6 months of the year water proofs are probably a VERY good idea!
The adventure trail
The third main element of Stanwick Lakes that I’d promised the kids we’d visit, aka I’d review, was the adventure trail. I think I might have mis-pitched certain elements when I was telling them about it. I might have made the rope bridge sound like it was crossing the Grand Canyon, when it’s actually crossing a small pond.
And I might have let them believe this was more of a tree house than a two-storey bird hide. We were in it for about 5 minutes and got to see some cows! The climbing rocks right at the start were quite the experience. It was a bit like trying to coach Alex Honnold – the kids wanted to climb it, but it was HARD. Getting down was harder and mainly involved me inching them down foothold by foothold. After some slightly frustrating stops on the Adventure Trail we got to two of their favourite bits – the tyre swings and the zip lines.
Apparently, unless you stick your legs out it’s impossible to crash together on the tyre swings even if you all hit the centre point at the same moment. Except of course everyone was sticking their legs out! Lots of giggles, and lots of adult nerves, but it is good fun. The two zip lines were really good. Just the right amount of speed and kick at the end. What impressed me was that, because it’s a trail, no-one hogged the equipment. You all had a few turns and then moved on to the next bit. And the kids were all OK with that. It just naturally seemed to work quite well.
By the end of the trail through the kids were exhausted. We were on site for over five hours (definitely a sign of a good day!), and had run out of water (I had refills in the car). Getting them to walk the last 1/4 of a mile took all of my Mummy motivation skills (including cheer-leading, distraction, bribery, pleading and I think I may have even thrown in some obviously unenforceable threats) but we made it!
The sculpture and heritage trails
Before and after I write a review of somewhere like Stanwick Lakes I always do a bit of research of things to do. I knew they had a heritage trail, and even had the map with me, but it wasn’t until I got home that I realised/remembered that the massive standing stones I’d seen in several places were actually the heritage trail. Stand at each of the six stones. Look over the top of these and you’re looking at the site of an ancient settlement. I remember seeing the Iron Age and Roman ones, but we might have seen the others two. If I’d realised what they were I would have paid more attention. Bad blogger!! There is an Iron Age round house though, over-looking the Iron Age settlement (obviously). It’s relatively small, and not in the best condition, but we poked our heads in. As an aside, if you’re looking for Iron Age houses check out either Celtic Harmony in Hertfordshire or the Chiltern Open Air Museum in Bucks. They’re both living history museums with impressive round houses.
One thing I did pay attention to is the sculpture trail. The sculpture above you literally cannot miss because it’s 1,000,000 feet high! It’s supposed to represent the old railway line that ran through here. There’s also other sculptures as well, including this funky fish.
The lakes
Considering this places is Stanwick Lakes, actually the focus of our day had very little to do with the lakes themselves. We crossed several bridges across lakes/streams but there was only one section of our walk that actually felt “lakeside”. Mostly it was just little peaks of beautiful lakes through the foliage. Let’s face it, that’s probably much better for the wildlife anyway, and it was still very much an outdoors day!
Our Stanwick Lakes Review
We had such a good day here! It’s great for families, and it’s great value. I’m sure that people who don’t have kids would enjoy exploring all of the footpaths and trails as well. You’re not a million miles away from some pretty major roads, but it doesn’t feel like it. We spoke to a couple of members of staff and they were all really friendly. Despite the amount of time we were there, we haven’t explored it all. There were plenty of happy kid signals though – they didn’t want to leave, they didn’t ask for snacks at all (except SC for the ice cream) and they even didn’t squabble. We’d taken Middle Child’s bestie with us and, don’t tell his Mum, but he said it was one of the best days out he’s had. Whilst I’m sure my sparkling personality was a major contributing factor, the location was probably the biggest reason.
Admission cost
The best bit is that it’s totally free to visit!
Parking / How to get there
Parking – For most of the year it’s £3.80 all day. During May half term and the summer holidays it’s a variable rate. The most you’ll pay, for over three hours is £5.80. Still absolutely worth it. Double check their website for the exact dates that the variable charge applies.
Address – Stanwick Lakes, Stanwick, Northamptonshire. NN9 6GY
Toilets
Around the visitor centre. There are indoor and outdoor ones. The indoor ones are much nicer than the outdoor ones!
Food
Picnics allowed, as are BBQs (in the designated area). There’s a cafe and a couple of kiosks as well.
What else is there to do nearby?
Castle Ashby is only about 20 minutes away.
Hi, I’m Vicky. My husband and I live in Aylesbury with our three children; a 14 year old son, an 12 year old son and a 6 year old daughter. I (mostly) love spending time together as a family. We visit all kinds of places and we’re quite happy to drive a fair distance for a decent day out. A few years ago I decided to set up Free Time with the Kids as a way to share our experiences of these family days out.
You’ll find the essential information you need to know before your visit that can be surprisingly hard to find out. Where do I park? How much will it cost me to get in? Are there any discounts available? Are there loos? Can I take a picnic or get food? My aim is to be your go-to guide for all your free and cheap family days out across Bucks, Beds, Oxon, Herts & slightly beyond. I really hope you find the reviews helpful. If there’s anywhere that you’d recommend please get in touch contact@freetimewiththekids.com or get in touch via Facebook