The Leys,Witney

Witney has a new playground! And it's really great!:) 
It was extremely busy. We usually hang out in empty village parks, so my children were initially a bit put off. However, the advantage to having lots of other children around is that my son was asked to join in with his first ever cricket match, which he really enjoyed:) 

Another advantage is that because the playground is so big it has absolutely everything. There's a lovely coffee shop, a loo (you need 20p to spend a penny), a skate park, a tennis court and mini golf. 

There are some parking spaces, but they were all full so I was forced to park next door in Sainsbury's. It is only a very short walk across the field. 

You can find The Leys on this map.


Pictures

There are three of these teepees. 

My kids absolutely loved this climbing frame. Even the bigger who sometimes thinks she is too grown up for playgrounds:) 

A couple of these swings...

Story chair

Lots of swings

The most bouncy trampoline ever. Kids were doing flips on this!

These are little microscopes. Kids were actually using them. Very cool:) 

A really lovely touch. I love that someone was thoughtful enough to provide a place for children to get changed. 

No pictures of the other water features for the same reason I try not to show children on this page. 

Coffee shop

Forbury Garden 

This place has always been a part of my life. My grandad worked as a brick layer for Reading Borough Council and he spent many, may years working next door, making the old Abbey ruins safe. My parents would take us here to look at the lion and and run around when we were getting bored of shopping.

I took my children here last week. There were already lots of children here, dancing on the bandstand (I love bandstands, there's something of the best of the Victorians about them: a public spirit, a joyful Saturday afternoon, happiness, but of course that's all fantasy; having never seen anyone perform on one!), people chilling out on their lunch breaks and lots and lots of work going on beautifying the place.

Forbury garden is on the opposite side of the road to the retail park which is parallel with the Great Western train track. Go out of the train station (the old main entrance) and turn left. You will see, across the road, a pub called the Rising Sun. The Forbury is behind the brick wall across the road from the pub.

Here's a map.

There were no teenagers climbing on the lion - which is large war memorial. Here's a picture. It loomed large in my imagination and wasn't a disappointment!

Bandstand in the background - wouldn't it be great to have a revival? No? That might just be me then:) 

This is the memorial to Burmese soldiers who fought alongside the British and lovingly cared for:

Old/new juxtaposition:) Life goes on! 

Below: Fountain, with St James' church in the background. A church designed by Pugin, who also designed the interior of the Houses of Parliament. I LOVE Pugin. He was a total workaholic, obsessed, driven and probably what we'd call a massive geek:) 

Caversham Court Gardens

I have driven past this garden innumerable times, and I'm willing to bet that you have, too.  It is on the right as you drive down the hill on the A4074 from Reading to Crowmarsh. 

You can find the garden on this map. 
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The easiest place to park you car is in the car park next to the Crowne Plaza hotel, which is right on the river. To get to it, drive over the Caversham bridge, take the last exit on the roundabout (for those of you who've been to the Reading Festival this is the road the entrance to the festival is on), take the first right as if you were parking in the hotel car park, but continue a little further until you get to the public car park, the entrance to which is on your left. The parking fees are very reasonable but the machine seemed to be playing up - I paid my £2 for 4 hours but my ticket said I could stay until 5pm, an extra 2 hours, so who knows?!

Once you've parked up, walk back over the bridge back towards Caversham, staying on the left hand side of the bridge. 

We stayed in this park for about 1.5 hours. It was not in the least busy which was surprising but also pleasant! My children played hide and seek, ran all over the place, climbed the trees, availed themselves of the cake (lots of choice of cakes - lots!!). 

Pics

View from the bridge.

If you 're a sucker for old stuff, this might help...

If you're looking for any old excuse to sit down, this might help...

The rules:

...are there for a reason, and it really is a nice garden!

Nice entrance.

The garden smells very nice

The essentials: Toilets and tea kiosk. What more could you want?

Bargain prices. 

Opening dates:

Fear not if you have small children...there's a fence all across the garden facing the river.

Chronology of British history - the line down the middle of this path.

The grassed areas surrounded by brick represent the rooms of the house that once stood on this site.

Look out for these little plaques in the middle of the grass. They tell you what the rooms were used for. This one represents the library. 

Lovely view of the church, behind. 

Well, it is a garden:) 

There are also plenty of trees. I have no pictures of these without my children climbing on them. Great fun!

We had a nice time in this garden. It is free to get into, is surprisingly quiet and picturesque. What's not to like?

Stanford in the Vale

This village has a playground, a pub and a village shop. The playground is next to the pre-school, which is signposted throughout the village, and can be found on this map. 

There is plenty of parking and equipment for children of all ages. 

If you fancy an ice cream, there's a village shop. Map.