Christmas gifts that keep on giving…..

I bought a membership to the National Trust recently and it reminded me that there’s a whole world of potential gift possibilities out there that do not involve spending vast quantities of cash on cumbersome crap that the recipient may well end up carting down to the local charity shop. I’m not talking about giving your loved ones one of those charity donation gifts like an Oxfam goat – such gifts are a lovely idea if someone has asked for them, or if you know there’s a cause particularly close to their heart that they would love to think they were helping. If you’re not careful though, they may be smiling through gritted teeth and thinking, “Where’s my body lotion/socks, you sanctimonious sod?”

No, what I have in mind are gifts which will allow your friends or family to enjoy doing something they love, whilst at the same time saving money. These gifts may also have the welcome side effect of benefitting the finances of a worthy cause. They will also save you the bother of wrapping paper. I present to you, the gifts that keep on giving……

1. National Trust membership

It has to be number 1 on “Parklover” doesn’t it?! I got my membership for £35 on the internet, a special offer if you do it by direct debit. That will get me into most National Trust properties for free, or at least at reduced rates, as well as removing parking costs. There’s at least 4 properties within an hour’s drive of me that I’d really like to visit – this would probably cost at least the above figure. The beauty of the membership is, that it will also encourage me to go exploring, in order to “get my money’s worth”. Membership of English Heritage would also make a great gift.

2. Annual pass to a zoo or safari park

I bought my parents annual passes to Dudley Zoo last year (as well as passes for mme and Mr Parklover). I worked out that we only needed to go there 3 times to have saved money – and we would be quite likely to go at least 3 times in a year ( I think this year’s tally is 5 so far!). Most zoos and safari parks offer something similar e.g. Chester, London.

3. Become a “Friend” of an art gallery, museum or arts centre.

I paid for a friend to become a “Member of Bury Met”, our local theatre and arts centre, for her birthday this year – she’ll get invitations to special events, first option on tickets for some events and a discount in their very good cafe bar, Automatic. Most galleries, museums etc operate something like this (e.g. Manchester MOSI, Harris Museum in Preston), but what you get as a “friend” varies alot. Some of them offer the chance to get involved as a volunteer, which may appeal to someone you know. The membership also helps to keep your favourite cultural hangouts going. Result.

4. Theatre, comedy or music tickets

The real thing is much better than a CD/DVD! Furthermore, if you plan to accompany the recipient, then you get to enjoy the evening too. This is great if you know someone’s tastes really well. It’s appreciated as a gift that has taken some thought but, depending on your loved ones tastes, it can be surprisingly cost effective. I always used to take my parents to the theatre a few days before christmas – before I had CJ! I’m looking forward to renewing the tradition once she’s old enough to come with us.

5. Newspaper or magazine subscription

I have a relative who has bought me a magazine subscription for Christmas for the last few years. I don’t have to pay for my favourite monthly read and he doesn’t have to think about what to buy me. Everyone’s happy! Get 12 issues of Lancashire/Worcestershire/Yorkshire Life etc for £25 (order by 11.12 for christmas!). Alternatively, find a newspaper subscription to fit your budget e.g Guardian subscriptions range from a measly £13.50 for a month’s weekend subscription, to £308.69 for a 12 month 7 day a week subscription.

Have you bought any gifts like this for friends and family? Anyone out there got any brilliant tips?

Outwood Country Park, Radcilffe

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Did I tell you I’ve got a place in the 2010 London Marathon? I’m very excited about it and even looking forward to the many, many miles I will have to run to prepare myself for my first ever attempt at this distance. However, the need for more miles presents me with a dilemma;

To avoid injury (specifically shinjury, in my case) I’d like to try and do as much of my mileage as possible off-road. In any case, I love running on trails and in parks. Beautiful scenery, peace and quiet, challenging terrain making me stronger, what’s not to like?

The problem is, I like to go running straight from my house. Shut my front door and I’m off, no time wasted getting to the park or out into the countryside. So, I need to find running loops that I can do from home without having to head off in the car first, hopefully incorporating some grass and trails. Tricky when you live in an urban area!

Yesterday, I decided to try and run a loop that would take me through Outwood Country Park, which I can access about 10 minutes run from my house. I’ve never been there, but I’ve driven past the entrance on Ringley Road a few times. Finding any information on this park is a bit of a challenge, there’s nothing on Bury Council’s park pages, so I had to try and rely on the paths marked on my 12 year old A-Z and my sense of direction. Googlemap doesn’t recognise it either – on the link above, the park is the empty expanse to the left of Outwood Road. This park is incognito! If you’re looking for it, I suggest using the entrance on Ringley Road, it’s pretty easy to spot.

After 5 – 10 minutes of road running, I found my way into the park, via the entrance off Outwood Road in Radcliffe. Apparently this area was a colliery until 1931 and has in more recent times been turned into parkland. I decided to follow one of the grass paths which soon turned very boggy, but I was quickly rewarded with fantastic views through the trees out over Radcliffe – you’re pretty high up here! The winter morning light hasn’t come out as I would have liked on these photos, but that’s what you get from an out-of -breath runner wielding a mobile phone I’m afraid.

My ability to remember the tracks shown in my ageing A-Z was severely tested by the fact that there were many trails worn across the grass. I found myself at a crossroads like this on several occasions. Hmm..which way to go? I went for straight on, which happily led me towards an unexpected surprise. Either I had found a previously undiscovered set of standing stones, made with shocking precision – or I had stumbled across part of the Irwell Sculpture Trail. Some post run research enables me to confirm that this striking set of stones is a sculpture by Ulrich Ruckriem. It turns out that Outwood is actually a particularly rich spot in terms of art spotting – no less than 3 sculptures are situated here. I’ll have to go back and see if I can find the works by Stefan Gec and Alan Johnston.

On this occasion though, I exited the park at the carpark on Ringley Road and had planned to follow another set of trails on the other side of the road that would allow me to loop back round. Here my plans fell apart. Firstly, I was not helped by the fact that I went down the wrong trail (confirmed by the A-Z when I got back).So much for my photographic memory. I probably could’ve worked back round to where I wanted to go, but was somewhat put off by the fact that the path took me through someone’s farm. I was even more put off by the signs warning of deep excavations and threats to life and limb. I mentioned in my post about running on towpaths, that I sometimes involuntarily picture a reconstruction of my last steps being shown on Crimewatch – it wasn’t long before I turned around and ran back the way I’d come!

Outwood Park was very quiet when I visited, a far cry form it’s industrial roots. This would make a lovely, leisurely walk, exploring the trails and trying to find the artworks – a sculpture treasure hunt!

People’s Millions – funds for community projects

Not so long ago, CJ and I took a trip to Longford Park in Stretford and had a very lovely time. If you read the comments on that post, you will see that the Friends of Longford Park are a hardworking and enterprising bunch, and have a chance of winning some funding for their improvement plans, courtesy of the Peoples Millions competition.

Two community projects are up against each other every day, so you might see some other brilliant causes that you’d like to vote for. Voting is by phone with calls costing 10p. It’s a shame they can’t all win!

Longford Park’s bid is up on Wednesday 25th November. If you are interested, see the Peoples Millions website for details of all bids and how to vote. There’s a chance to help another park – Limeside Park – on Thursday 26th. All the projects listed would be worthy winners though – may the best projects win!

Mandley Park, Broughton

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Mandley Park is in my repertoire of “shopper’s guilt” destinations. If I need to take CJ into Manchester to go shopping for something, I like to stop at a park on the way back to give her a bit of a play, fresh(ish) air and a runaround. Along with St Mary’s Park in Prestwich, Mandley Park is one of my chosen places to let her loose.

It’s situated on a very busy road, but whilst this is a drawback in terms of traffic and noise, there are benefits – namely the selection of local, independent shops. I mananged to resist the tempting selection of pastries and iced donuts at Kosher Delights and treated us to some very tasty iced buns from Brackmanns. Anyway, I digress. The playground….

My favourite things here are the very bright colours of the play equipment and the selection of benches. The colours have 2 benefits – firstly, they are lovely and cheery. Secondly, they lessen the unpleasantness of the graffitti which adorns the climbing frames. Whenever I visit, I can’t resist a little smirk at the mobile number written quite neatly with the offer of “the time of your life”. I am tempted to ring and see if the owner of said mobile really WILL offer me an all expenses paid round-the-world trip, but I fear this will not, in fact, be the case. Joking aside, it’s not the nicest thing to see when you are playing with your innocent little treasure. If you’re playing there with your school age reader, it’s really not good.

Back to the positives though, I particularly like the benches here which are unusually close to the play equipment. I don’t usually get much chance to sit down whilst CJ plays, as she either doesn’t stay on things very long, or I have to help her on or off, or make sure she doesn’t fall. Here though, if you’re feeling bone idle a tad lethargic, you can steal a few moments rest. I took the picture on the right of CJ on a horsie whilst sitting on one of the benches to demonstrate just how close they are.

There’s a nice selection for all ages here; different sized swings, a roundabout, springies, large and small climbing frames, large and small seesaws ( 1 yellow, 1 purple – pretty too!) and a nice circular balance challenge (below).

All in all, Mandley Park is a good local park, worth a stop off if you’re in the area, often busy and bustling but none the worse for that. If you do stop off, be sure to take advantage of those local bakery opportunities…

Withy Grove Park, Bamber Bridge

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We were in Leyland last weekend visiting Mr Parklover’s family. As we headed up the M61, the skies brightened and a glint appeared in my eye as I spied an opportunty to sneak in a visit to Withy Grove Park in Bamber Bridge. I got wind of this play paradise via the writer of All Grown Up and have been itching to let CJ loose on it ever since.

We visited late Sunday afternoon after a roast lunch and tea and biccies at CJ’s Great Grandparents – at about 4 pm on a nippy November afternoon, this park was still busy, so I imagine it’s packed on a sunny summer’s day. It’s easy to see why, this is undoubtedly one of the best and most extensive playgrounds we’ve visited. It’s styled as a desert island and has a large area for younger children and a seperate section with a basketball area, skate ramps and covered seating area for teens. In between is a wide range of equipment suitable for various ages. It was great to see all areas of the playground being used by a different agegroups and, according to South Ribble Council’s webpage (above), the main playground is floodlit until 9pm and the teen area until 10pm and the whole area is covered by CCTV.

The toddler area is set in sand and CJ immediately made a beeline for this. There’s a climbing frame and slide with buckets and pullies for moving the sand around – CJ decided that her hands would do the job though, so ran up and down the slide ramp with handfuls of sand to deposit in the bucket. She likes to freestyle. This area has loads of great features including a wheelchair accessible roundabout, different types of swings, including one which can be used with a harness obtained from the adjacent leisure centre, aquatic themed springies and shipwrecked pirate ship housing slides and hidey-holes.

We explored the whole playground – CJ excitedly running towards new and enticing equipment and me jogging a few paces behind shouting “careful…”. She had a go on some “big girl” swings and a wooden ramp, which I enjoyed demonstrating for her. There are lots of rope nets to climb up and along, a long zip wire which I’d LOVE to have a go on and loads of other stuff which is quite difficult to describe but looks fun or scary according to your tastes and you can hopefully see from the photos. I’m afraid that the photos reflect the time of day and year we were visiting so are  a little bit gloomy, but this is such a gem of a playground that I hope it’s many wonderful qualities sparkle through the clouds and give a sense of how great a venue this is. I have nothing negative to report – the only thing worth mentioning is that drainage is clearly problematic on the land here, so it might be worth bringing wellies, as the landscaped areas between the zones of the playground are grassy and were a little boggy when we visited. If you have an enthusiastic parklover with you like CJ who runs straight at things she likes the look of, it may save you some soggy shoes.

 

 

 

Hamilton Road Park, Whitefield

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I was surprised to see so few people at Hamilton Road Park on a beautiful warm and sunny November morning. Perhaps people are already in “winter mode”  – in fairness it had been raining earlier in the morning. When we arrived at the park – CJ riding “bigbike” down the long and winding ramp whilst I “raced her” by sneaking down the shortcut steps – most of the equipment was quite wet, but a good wipe with a trusty muslin cloth did the trick. I’m all for enjoying the park in all weathers, but you do need to have your kit with you. I always have a cloth in my bag or an old teatowel in the boot, if we’re in the car. After all, no-one wants a wet bum.

This playground is aimed at toddlers. It was the first playground we took CJ to and is perfect for park novices as they can try everything out. There’s swings, a seesaw, springies, a little house, an abacus and noughts and crosses game (we were here in frosty midwinter once and had to prise these apart before we could play with them) and a slide. My only gripe here is the slide – you have to access it via a climbing ramp, which is quite difficult and made harder by the fact that some of the grips have come off. Having said that, CJ can just about manage it by pulling herseld up by the handrails. It’s not ideal though. Other than this minor complaint, this is an excellent place to bring your tots. It has the added bonus of some circular paths, great for learner cyclists and also is a favourite place for locals to bring their dogs for a runaround. We often enjoy added entertainment from the canine community, racing around the outside of the fenced-in circular play area. Also here are 2 tennis courts which might be handy if you have older children with you.

Hamilton Road Park has a lovely setting in a conservation area – it’s overlooked by some lovely old houses on Hamilton Road, which I often find myself coveting. It’s also handy for Whitlefield’s many amenities which I mention in this post about Whitefield Park, which is just down the road. Additionally, there’s a new winebar and cafe “The White Room” opened just over the road. I haven’t managed to go yet, but it seems very popular after only a couple of weeks. If you’re coming by bus, there’s a stop right outside the park (numbers 135 and 98).

This is a great example of a local community park, well used and well maintained. It suffers from graffitti like many places, but this is regularly cleaned off. There was very little visible this Saturday, but we’re regulars so we see it appear and disappear. Kudos to Bury council for keeping on top of things here, it really makes a difference to the feel of the place. And this park does have a lovely feel to it, overlooked by Stand cricket club and with regular “neenaws” from the nearby ambulance and police stations, your toddler is sure to enjoy it!

Remember, remember…Bonfire night!

Accompanied by the sound of damp squibs fizzling out in the Manchester mist, I’ve been sitting at the computer having a look around at some of the organised bonfires available this weekend for your park visiting pleasure. Of course, I can’t possibly bring you a comprehensive national guide, but I’ve collected together a few of the ones that caught my eye.

My absolute favourite is the bonfire extravaganza on SAT 7TH at Brockham Village Green in Surrey. Not ones to forget the origins of Bonfire Night, the residents will be parading through the village with an effigy of Guy Fawkes, which will then be dragged up the 50 foot bonfire by a Red Devil. And just in case you were worrying that it’s the actual devil, the website gently explains that this will, in fact, be a young girl in a red catsuit with an attached tail. There will also be fireworks, a pigroast and lots of joining and spectating from other local villages.

If you are in the East Midlands on SAT 7TH, you could give the bonfire at Abbey Park in Leicester a whirl. The festivities involve laser jugglers, flame acts and Professor Crump, a “hilarious 8 foot traditional clown.” Hilarious or terrifying, attend and find out! If that doesn’t sound like your thing, there will also be music form local bands and dancers and appearances from Fireman Sam. Sounds like a genuine attempt to provide something for everyone.

Over in the West Midlands is the place I would be if I could on SAT 7TH. I can’t wait for CJ to be old enough for me to take her to  Himley Park bonfire, near Kingswinford. It’s close enough to my childhood home of Wall Heath that we used to walk there, about 1 1/2 miles each way, to avoid parking mayhem. The website gives details of special buses from various points, put on for the same purpose. I’d forgotten how the bonfire at Himley always has some kind of crazy theme, where they try to outdo the previous year. This time it’s Rockets and Moonlandings or something. No doubt it will be spectacular, but I don’t really remember any of that from my youth, I just remember a big bonfire, great firework displays and a big fair all in a lovely park. And quite often a lot of mud.

If you’re after a bonfire in the Manchester and Salford area – well, alot of them are actually taking place tonight, the 5th, rather than waiting for the weekend. However, there’ll be a bonfire at Princes Park in Irlam on FRIDAY 6TH.

Wherever you are, stay safe!

Wall Heath Park

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Another blast from my past. Except I never spent much time at this park in my youth. There are two parks in Wall Heath and the other one (“top park”) was a one minute walk from my house, whereas this one (“bottom park”)takes about five.When I was a “youth” hanging around the park of an evening with my fellow teenage miscreants friends, you were either a “top park” or “bottom park” type – I was usually to be found at “top park”. These days though, “top park” is just a playing field and home to the Scout Hut, Community Centre and Tennis Club, the swings having long ago been removed.

It is “bottom park” that I now find myself frequenting when I visit my parents, as this is where the playground is. Sadly, this playground leaves a lot to be desired. Anyone who regularly reads this blog might think that I am totally incapable of giving a bad review and am permanently positive and cheery. Prepare yourselves. I am about to be negative.

Wall Heath park itself is rather lovely as you can see above. Leafy, grassy, perfect for chilling out or running around with your kids or dog. The playground though, has seen far better days. It is decent enough; swings, climbing frame, roundabout etc, all present and correct. The safety matting has been touched up with repairs, but at least it’s there and safe. But it just seems so unloved and unkept. Graffitti is etched into the metal seats and the play equipment. Paint is peeling. Autumn leaves are strewn with litter. Worst of all, night time visitors  had clearly lit themselves a fire under the slide, the charred remains of which sit in the middle of the playground.

This playground compares unfavourably to pretty much everywhere I’ve featured here. Look at Truffet Park in Middleton, or St Mary’s Park in Prestwich. Princes Park in Irlam or Moses Gate in Bolton. Just 4 examples from 4 different boroughs that I’ve had the pleasure of visiting with CJ recently. It’s fortunate that the surroundings of this playground are so pleasant, otherwise it would be a rather depressing place to visit with your tot. Admittedly, the previous time I visited, there was no evidence of twisted firestarting and much less litter, but this is a playground that feels neglected. It could at least do with a lick of paint or maybe some new benches.

All children deserve to have easy access to the kinds of facilities I feature here every week. I feel very lucky that I live in an area where such play areas are commonplace and sad that I’m yet to find something as fabulous in the borough I used to call home. I’ll keep searching and hoping and working my way through the list on the website above. In the meantime, I hope that someone at least manages to clear it up a bit.

Staffs and Worcs canal, Hinksford

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This week CJ and I have been to stay with my parents. I always feel quite strange visiting the place where I grew up. I know the surroundings like the back of my hand, it’s all totally familiar – and yet I don’t know anything that’s going on, don’t feel like a part of things anymore. I know the area so well, and yet don’t know it at all. I’m sure it’s not uncommon to grow up being hypercritical of the place you live, seeing all the negative things, the things you’d like to get away from. I’m as guilty as anyone for that. The funny thing is though, since I’ve moved away from home, I’ve started to notice things that I didn’t appreciate when I saw them all the time – particularly when it comes to my old running routes. One of the best things about Wall Heath, the village a few miles from Dudley where I grew up, is that it is right on the border of the countryside, somthing which I completely took for granted when I could train there all the time.

In this post then, I will share with you one of my favourite places in the world. The towpath of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire canal from bridge number 38 at Hinksford to Bridge number 45. It’s not a park, but it is a beautiful and free open space, enjoyed by many types of people. The lovely thing about going for a run along my old haunt, is that it feels exactly like it used to – the scenery and wildlife are the same, I say hello to people I don’t know, dog walkers, people on boats, fellow runners. Unlike walking around the village, I never did know anyone to bump into along the towpath, I often was there one my own. In fact, going for a run here is even better than it used to be, because now it is a special treat, something that I can’t do whenever I feel like it.

The route I took starts at Hinksford Bridge, about a 7 minute run from my parents house or a 15 minute stroll. I ran along the towpath, only coming off to cross the road in Swindon because it’s easier than using the bridge there, and carried on to Giggety Bridge, number 44. I took some photos along the way, they are not brilliant quality as I took them on my mobile without my glasses on, but I think I deserve some kudos for stopping to take pictures whilst out of breath! The picture on the right is the first view when you step onto the towpath at Hinksford bridge. If you turn left and go in the opposite direction it’s equally lovely and leads you to The Navigation pub. No bad thing! On the left is one of the few slightly uphill sections of the towpath. As you can see it’s barely noticeable – another reason I enjoy running along here. I now live on top of a hill, so flat training routes are almost impossible to find. Just along from here I saw someone on their barge getting ready to go fishing, chatting to a swan who had swum up to say hello. The lock keepers cottage just up from here used to keep a guardgoose outside. That thing was damn scary! It’s been gone a while, but whenever I approach I still feel trepidation, until I realise there’s no need to sprint past.

If you look carefully at the photo on the right, you’ll see some winged creatures – sadly not the image I wanted to capture. I’d heard a loud flapping noise like sails in the wind, and then 3 swans flew around the corner, inches above the water. By the time I’d managed to snap them they looked like tiny specks. In fact their combined wingspan took up the entire width of the canal.

I wanted to run for about an hour, so I was going to just turn around and come back when my watch hit 30 minutes – but as I was on the canal, I thought I might as well just carry on to the next bridge, in this case Giggety, number 44.  Next time I’ll go further on to the next one, number 45 – I can’t remember what it’s called. I’ve never managed to go further. Not for want of fitness, just out of fear. I don’t know why, but I round a corner and always get a strange feeling that I am starring in a re-creation of my own last steps for an episode of Crimewatch. Something about the reeds, I don’t know. Entirely irrational, but it makes me nervous!

I took the photo on the left on my way back. Along this stretch are many houses with gardens backing onto the canal. Away from the practicalities of my own life, I always find myself coveting one of them as I run past. I don’t really even know where I am here, somewhere near Wombourne I would guess. I’m on the towpath, I don’t know or care where I am in relation to anywhere else.

Usually, the towpath will be busy with walkers, runners, cyclists, families and duckfeeders. Today I ran early, so I mainly had sailors for company, the smell of logburners wafting across the canal as they cooked their breakfast. There are only two differences between this run and my runs in the past. Firstly, I don’t know when I’ll next be able to enjoy running along this stretch of towpath. Secondly, when I get home I am now greeted by a grinning and shrieking 2 year old, who quickly proclaims, “You’re sweaty!”

Hesketh Park, Southport

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My parents have been on about visiting Southport for ages and the prospect of a sunny weekend finally persuaded them. Sadly the sun disappeared when we went over to meet up with them last Sunday, but we still managed to squeeze in a park visit.

I have fond memories of Southport. When me and Mr Parklover lived in Preston, Southport was our regular choice for a “nice day out”. That was all a long time before we’d even thought about children though, and our favourite activities of old – mooching around the shops, mooching around the chippy – were no longer quite as appropriate. In fairness, the fish and chips part still worked fine, we just had to swap takeaway fish ‘n chips in a tray for fish ‘n chips in a sit down chippy. But what else to do? Fortunately, Mum and Dad had been there for 2 days already and had made it their business to seek out the best local park in which to entertain CJ and ourselves.

Hesketh Park is about 10 minutes walk away from the centre of Southport and has lots of attractive features. We entered through the main gates and quickly came upon the lake. The water level of the lake is rather low at the moment and the water a murky shade of orangey brown, rather like a thin and miserable lentil soup. This does not seem to put the ducks, geese and seagulls off though, there was as wide a selection of breeds as I have seen anywhere on my recent travels.

CJ was prepared to brave the ducks who blocked the path in their eagerness to get to bread being generously offered by visitors, as she could see the playground beyond and nothing was going to stop her getting to it. There’s a nice selection of equipment for different ages here as well as a popular cafe overlooking the swings and the welcome addition of a crazy golf course. I wasn’t about to let a 2 year old loose with a golf club, but give it a year or two and I’ll be refusing to let her win.

Toilet facilities are actually outside the park, nip out of the exit just past the playground, turn left and there they are. There’s a unisex one with babychanging and the cubicals are roomy enough to fit the whole family in, NOT that we tried!

We had a very pleasant stroll round the woodland paths in the park after negotiating with CJ to get her away from the playground (this involved her ignoring me until I used the word “snack”). The paths are well marked and easy to follow. We popped into the rose garden – obviously not very rosy at this time of year, but well worth a look in the summer as it’s large and well maintained.

There’s also a listed glasshouse, full of plants – although it was closed when we visited.

Obviously some visitors to Southport will think us odd for not spending our time on rides or in amusement arcades etc, but if that’s not for you – or you’ve had enough of paying for it! -then Hesketh Park might come as a relief.