After my last post on country parks, here I am again letting you know about just one more great place to visit. Don’t worry, I am still JWalking and haven’t suddenly been employed by the Northamptonshire Tourist Board but this park has history with us.

Seven Year Return to Stanwick

We stumbled across Stanwick Lakes about 7 years ago.  It was a bit of a shock when I had worked that out but we know it was around the time of our youngest son’s 18th birthday and he has just turned 25. He was spending a day at Santa Pod, the UK of home drag racing, with a friend and we needed somewhere to meet up with friends from Leicester while they spent a day with other petrol heads.

It is a country park on the site of some former gravel pits that offers a lot of marked paths and tracks for walking and mountain biking, lots of hides for bird watching and photography. The visitor centre next to the car park gives out information on what is going on as well and a nice cafe with big glass windows looking out over one of the lakes. A good place for a hot drink after a long walk or, on warmer days, an ice cream on the outside decking.

We followed a variety of the trails and ended up walking and chatting our way around about 6 miles of the tracks and there were more we didn’t get to see.  It was very cold and the hat and gloves were definitely needed but it made the return to the Cafe Solar all the better.

Back to Housesitting with Molly

After thawing out and the short drive home, it was Molly’s turn for a walk. Being a Basset Hound it is at more of a leisurely pace than some of the dogs we had seen in the morning. To be fair, during our five weeks looking after her she has definitely sped up. Maybe it is colder and she wants to get it over and done with but she certainly seems to trot along more consistently. (The Secret Life of Molly)

JWalking and dog walking over the for the day we were ready to put our feet up but we love that feeling of rosy cheeks and leg muscles that you can feel have been worked.  How our situation has changed since we first visited here 7 years ago when JWalking was just a twinkle in the eye. Little did we know then that several years later we would be house sitting locally and what travelling adventures were in store.  Returning here has just reminded us about those changes and how right we were to take that leap.

14/01/2019