Rushcliffe Country Park

Visited this new Visitor Centre on the opening day. The Visitor enter has good information, a Changing Places toilet and adjacent to it is a new cafe and toilets. This greatly improves the visitor attraction to what is a great Country Park with children’s play area. Highly recommended.

Currently has free parking or usually £1 all day! Took my dog theres areas well signed whether it was a dog area /lead/ or not allowed in the area, the parks space is huge. Lots of play areas currently closed. Awesome interactive sensory garden / mazes/ tree identification maze and lots of wooden statues. We took a picnic and theres loads of space to eat it. Bike track and skate ramp. Its a fab family place. highly recommend.

Good park, dog walking areas, steam trains, woodland trail, little drinks hut, visitor centre, lots of birds and ducks..just watch out for the 'snobby parents' with little Tarquin and Jemima!

As a local I've been coming to this place for years and it is very well maintained by the management, set out well and is a dog walkers dream in terms of finding a place to safely walk/ train without busy roads nearby.

Top tips for visiting if you are a dog walker:
*If you are an early riser, or have a nervous dog, go just before sunrise to walk as there are only a few dog walkers about, no kids, bikes or pushchairs.
*Dogs can go all around the park on the lead, but a vast area of the park is 'Off Lead' allowed - big fields & wooded areas on the opposite side away from the railway and children's play area's - just look for the signs for information. Perfect for pooches who need to burn off energy and always loads of dogs around to play with.
*Plenty of dog bins located round the park for your dog waste
*There is a dog agility area which is free to use, very well built and is fenced off so you can train.
*Avoid dog walking between 8.45am-10am on Saturdays if you can as there is normally a Park run and the runners route goes through the off lead areas.
*Say hello to other dog walkers! :-) Most of us are extremely friendly and like to have a quick chin-wag.

Top tips for visiting if you are NOT a dog walker:
*Just be aware that there is a large section of the park that is allotted as a dog 'Off lead' area and that, should you walk around wearing a pristine WHITE Gucci coat holding a greasy beefburger topped with crispy bacon, that you are VERY likely to be jumped on by a dog off the lead, get mud all down your clothes whilst trying to fend off the slathering hound, bashing it on the nose with a pickled gherkin, before screaming that you are going to sue the owner for all-sorts. Use yer noggin. If you don't like dogs being off the lead and running near you, stay in the dog On-Lead areas. Simple.
*Likewise, if you decide to have a family picnic in the dog Off-Lead area and sit with your Parma Ham on the bone, prawn vol-au-vents and chicken drumsticks on a floor blanket you WILL be getting a visit by EVERY dog in the Off-Lead area. As it is a dog off the lead area, and you have tasty food on the floor. Don't blame the dogs for running off with your sausage rolls - just please use your common sense and use the HUGE area sectioned off for families and picnics in the dog ON the lead area. Use yer noggin. Simple.
*Please, if your children are spotted being allowed to climb all over the fenced off dog agility equipment like a climbing frame as dog owners are trying to train there (the use it was intended for), whilst you stand there oblivious to little Archie and Alfie drawing all over the timber frame with felt tips, I couldn't guarantee that a mouldy Bonio would not be thrown in your general forehead direction by the dog owner. There are certain situations in which only a bone shaped biscuit aimed at a temple will do to test for signs of intelligence. There is a great whacking huge children's play area in the park. HUGE. Please consider using it instead of the dog agility area, and control your children in areas that they should NOT be in, just as you expect dog owners to.
*There are some really interesting events on at this park for the whole family - check the website out for updates.

It was a bank holiday weekend and all is well on the park, it seems quiet, too quiet. I can't hear any shouting of the jbarb and some part of me longs for the mating call. But wrong season I guess. And now sadly normal sized bi-cu al is gone it's getting lonely. I take huge comfort in my special trousers.

So with the trousers on and a vest, after all "suns out, guns out" and all that. I go for a wonder as somtimes you never know what will happen on the hallowed earth of RCP. It's still quiet on the park so I pick up an ice cream, have a game of solo whiff waff and stare at the grass for a bit.

And then, hark! My hears pick up the sound of a Maximus, rejoice. I follow my ears and glance the Maximus striding along shouting at nettles. I keep my distance and swiftly climb the nearest tree, this is new. I go into my mind cave to try and recollect if this has ever been recorded in the scientific literature, it hasn't! Who would have thought that such a quiet day could have turned out so well.

I'm elated, I decide to stay in the tree overnight. I think about removing the special trousers in celebration but decide it would not be comfortable, instead I content myself with eating a few moths which I attract with my glowing elbow.

Once again RCP does not disappoint.

Suns out, guns out. Word to your mothers.

The new agility course is hilarious and great exercise - do make a donation as this must be preserved, it's fab. Lovely playgrounds for kids and very well kept. Parking is a bit hit and miss.

Loose dogs runni g amoke while children are present and amount of dog xhit is unbelievableJUST A DOG TOILET!!!

Female walker on biten on the ankle by an Adder on 4th August 2018. She was walking her dogs and nipped into long grass at side of walking path to retrieve a ball and felt a sudden sharp pain. The following day the pain and swelling was such that she visited the NHS walk in centre, later that day she was admitted to intensive care for anti-venom treament for adder bites. She is now, thankfully recovering.

The VERY last time i visit that park!!! I'm in total shock

We often go to the park when we want a walk. It's approximately 7000+ steps round the outer pathway although other pedometers may measure it differently. There is a large lake which attracts various water fowl, wild flower meadows and more importantly for families a play area suitable for children up to the age of 10/11 years. Dog walkers will find an areas where they can exercise their dogs and areas where dogs are not allowed or only on leads. There is somewhere for your skateboards, and cycles. There is a franchised outlet for teas/coffees and similar drinks as well as some fast food as well as an ice-cream van. These are usually found there at weekends and school holidays. Also there is a kiosk which is staffed by volunteers from the adjacent heritage railway. This is open at weekends and school holidays. All these facilities can be weather dependant. I have also seen other attractions there such as outdoor ping pong tables or badminton. This park is in easy reach of both Leicestershire communities such as Loughborough or Melton Mowbray ( and villages in between) as well as communities between Nottingham and Derby. It also serves the local community well. The park is actually situated off Loughborough Road, Ruddington and is best accessed via Mere Way - it is signposted. There is a pay and display car park which can overflow if there is an event on e.g. the run in the park early Saturday mornings.

Where to start, it's been a busy few months. I dived with whale sharks in Indonesia, whitnessed wild orangutan in Borneo, dived with great white sharks in South Africa, got close to polar bears in Svalbard, was inducted into the San peoples of Namibia.

I mention all these things not to boast, but to give what I have to say next some perspective. For I was once again girding my loins for a trip to Rushclife country park.

I arrived feeling the chill of winter on my Bare cheeks as this time I'm going as nature intended so as to get a better feel for nature at this pantheon of the gods. I had heard that TBA had moved south for winter but the Maximus and longus were sure to be around. Hugeus may even venture from his cave.

With the wind wipping around the undercarriage I ventured forth, then, I heard an enormous shout from in a tree far above me. I'm shocked, I take a step back to take in the sheer testosterone emanating from the male in the tree. I realise it is a Jarb, there are less than 20 in the country. It is then that I recall what the cry means, he is looking for a mate. Unknown to most the Jarbjarb(genus to follow) is homosexual. The species is continued by stealing the young of the closely related Homo sapiens.

I leave the Jarbjarb who now in his evident frustration tries to mate with the tree in which he is sitting. I now retire to my tent only to find my telescope has been stolen and my supply of spare underware is missing. Looks like it will be an unfurnished basement tonight.

Nevertheless I am truely blessed and sleep only wishing I had what it takes to take on the Jarbjarb face to face.

As for the park, there is not a place on this glorious planet that I'd rather be.

Peace out, G