If you’re looking for an all round fantastic country park day out in Bedfordshire then head straight to Rushmere Country Park. Not far from Leighton Buzzard, it’s within easy reach of Milton Keynes and Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire.
With 400 acres of woodland, heathland and meadows, countless tracks to follow, fairy doors and a sculpture trail Rushmere Country Park has it all. Biking, horse riding and walking are all great activities. We spotted the Ridge Riders Downhill Zone on our walk which looks brilliant if you’re into mountain biking and it’s great to watch the extreme bikers whizz past. A pass is required if you want to use this specific area.
Rushmere Country Park map and information leaflet
Rushmere Country Park Sculpture Trail
This sculputre trail and fairy doors were our highlight of the visit as we explored Rushmere Country Park. The first we found was just outside the cafe which is currently closed due to the pandemic.
Following along the sculpture trail there are great trees to climb, fairy doors and even a fairy house. These aren’t piddly little fairy doors but great big beasts of doors and my kids decided that they were really goblin doors.
Keep an eye out for the giant chair along the sculpture trail as well as great carved logs. These could inspire some great storytelling.
As well as the sculpture trail there are lots of trails and pathways to explore with kids. My boys love to climb and they’ve rated this as their favourite country park for tree climbing. We also loved the huge giant’s gate at the top of our walk, flanked by huge carved totem poles. The only other place we’ve seen a totem pole on our adventures is at Kilkenny Lane Country Park near Witney in Oxfordshire.
There are amble opportunities to go off track and explore the woodland with towering trees and plenty of space to make natural woodland dens too.
We had such a great time exploring and didn’t even get around everywhere. There’s also a lake and heronry where you can watch herons raise their young in the Spring as well as meadows for picnics.
Rushmere Country Park Play Park
No country park would be complete without a super duper steep slide and Rushmere Country Park delivers!
Rushmere Country Park Pricing & Parking
Managed by The Greensand Trust, working in partnership with Central Bedfordshire Council, the park is run on a not-for-profit basis for the benefit of visitors and wildlife. There’s not an individual ticket price to enter, instead you pay £3 when exiting the car park. You can pay by contactless but on the day we visited it wasn’t working and luckily I managed to scrape together enough spare change. Worth bringing some coins with you just in case.
