Just a few miles from Milton Keynes, Emberton Country Park is a wonderful outdoor adventure to explore with kids. There are a couple of play parks, a lake, easy paths for a family walk and they even have a campsite.
The first play park at Emberton Country Park is opposite the café so an ideal spot to grab a coffee while your kids play.
My kids enjoyed scooping the fine gravel, lifting with the pulleys and feeding it down the tubes.
There’s also a large sandpit in this area so bring your bucket and spade. Don’t worry if you’ve forgetten them as they have a couple of great diggers to challenge co-ordination skills.
Surround this smaller play park area is plenty of green space, picnic tables and large shady trees. We also loved the little stone sculpture dotted around and the timeline wall.
Just a few minutes walk on from the first play park area you come to the larger of the kids play areas and although a little worn it’s got a great variety. The pirate ship stands out immediately and was much loved by my youngest.
They don’t skimp on the slides either with four dfferent ones to try. Firstly, there’s a little toddler one that runs off the pirate ship, then a more traditional climb up the stairs and slide down one.
However, it was the slides that ran down a slope that my kids loved best. Most children were scrambling up the slope to get to the top of the green tube slide but there’s also a little boardwalk route up too. For the open metal slide, there’s a staircase set into the slope to reach the top.
It can be hard to find inclusive play parks and while they don’t go all out for this the play park does include a wheelchair accessible roundabout and nest swing.
There are plenty of places to explore too. Dash through the willow tunnel, pass through the old stone archway, jump on a trampoline, traverse the bridge which pops up and down as the weight changes or rest up with the big stone turtle.
Can you cycle around Emberton Country Park?
Emberton Park has over 5km of paths and trails winding around the four lakes. There’s an easy paved road which is ideal for children on bikes and scooters or going for a pushchair walk.
Family Walk at Emberton Country Park
With woodland pathways and lakeside ambles, there are lots of great spots to go for a family walk. Don’t forget to bring your duck food too.
How much does it cost to get into Emberton Country Park?
There’s no entry fee for Emberton Country Park and if you’re arriving by car it’s great value at £4.50 for the whole day to park.
Emberton Country Park Toilets & Cafe
There’s a cafe on site serving hot cold drinks and light lunches (sandwiches and sausage rolls). The toilets are open and adjacent to the car park.
Emberton Country Park History
The country park was first opened to the public in 1965, previously being used for sand and gravel extraction to create the M1. The park lies in the River Ouse basin between the market town of Olney and Emberton Village.
The site was also part of the Battle of Olney Bridge during the English Civil War in 1643.