St Nicholas Park

This is a picture perfect park. On the early Autumn afternoon when we go, Summer is having another crack at it. Parents are sat out side the thatched roofed café with pots of teas, while children gleefully hop over the stream absently-​mindedly letting ice cream cones drip their contents over their bare arms.
We just about make the curfew for the Golden Putter crazy golf, which is the purpose of this post-​shopping visit. There are a full state-​of-​the-​art 18 holes to play, each one getting progressively harder. My memory of crazy golf is of playing on cracked concrete surfaces, but here your ball will glide over all-​weather baize, that gives a realistic green putting experience. There are obstacles, slopes, a version of bunkers to tackle and walls to bounce your ball off, and the experience is kind of like a cross between putting and pool.
It’s very, very, fun, and at around £3.50 a person you’ll get a full hour of casual competitiveness for the price of a pint.
If you want a more rough and ready retro crazy golf experience there is an older more ramshackle course as you enter the park, (clubs hired from the café.) Ace.

I had forgotten how nice ‘Warwick’ Park was until I took my 4 year old last weekend. There is a lot of it for a start. Fields, tennis courts, play areas. etc.
We went on a boat although we had to wait about 20 minutes after being told it would be 5 minutes and the queue is a bit slow as there is only one person serving both the boat hire and the ice cream the other side. You can’t go far on the boats, there is a roped off area allocated for the boats from a bridge at the far end of the park to the back of the castle (a beautiful view there). The costs of boat hire varies depending on how long you want and what type of boat you want. They have canoes, kayaks, pedaloes, motor boats and rowing boats. Personally, with the distance you can go, I don’t see a lot of point having the boat for more than half an hour as even in a rowing boat, you can go from one end to the other in that time.
My son went on a pony as well. I don’t know if they are always there. That cost £3 which is a bit more than other places but they have two ponies and a horse who are obviously well kept and friendly.
I felt that my son was the wrong size for the playground bit. He was a bit big for the smaller climbing frames and things but wouldn’t quite have managed on the other stuff! There were an awful lot of kids there too.
My favourite part of the park is the fairground. You have to pay for the rides with tokens which, compared to a lot of places, are quite reasonably priced. They are 70p each or if you buy a certain amount, it’s a little bit less (not much though, eg. you get 11 if you pay for 10). There are about 10 or 12 rides there. It’s ok if you only have one child but it could work out expensive if you have more children, especially if they all want to go on everything!
There are toilets in the park (only at one end though) and a couple of places to get ice cream. The café at the main entrance to the park sells hot drinks and snacks as well.
There is also a new crazy golf area. Well, I say «new». It wasn’t there when I went with my other son 8 years ago! So it’s been there fewer than 8 years but I don’t know exactly how long. It’s about £3 — £3.50 each which is ok if there’s only two of you but we didn’t have a go as I would have had to have spent £10 for 3 of us to play and my son would have got bored after the first couple of holes!
There is a large car park which serves the park as well as the leisure centre and museum nextdoor. The parking prices are very reasonable and we got a free child ticket to Hatton Farm on the back as a promotion!
Apart from the park itself, it’s an ideal location for the rest of Warwick. It’s only about a 5 — 10 minute walk into the centre and the castle is more or less across the road (although, as you can see from another of my reviews, the castle is ridiculously expensive to get in at around £20 per adult and not much less for kids and concessions).

A large open park near the middle of Warwick. Has a good car park (pay the ticket or you’ll get a fine) suitable for visiting the park, Warwick Castle and the town itself.
Facilities include a sport centre/​swimming pool, astroturf pitch and tennis courts. Bike ramps and an off road bike track, play rea with modern swings and things, paddling pool, paid for rides, boat hire on the River avon, mini golf and bowls (probably more but that’s not bad going). Café and toilets as well.

St Nicholas Park is located just a short walk from Warwick castle and is a lovely place to take the family on a sunny day.
There is a pay and display car park which can be busy at peak times but there are plenty of other places to park in Warwick.
They have a really good play area with great play equipment for all ages. They also have a large paddling pool so take the kids swimmers cos they will love it.
There is a large grassed area so take your football or cricket set for a family game. The river is close by so you can take a walk along it with an ice cream or hire a rowing boat or motor boat.
Although we haven’t used it before there is also adventure golf and an amusement centre with rides for kids up to about 12 years old. More details of these can be found on the website. But beware — you could end up spending a small fortune!
There is a small café selling hot and cold food and ice creams and the toilets are located near between the café and amusements.
This is a really great park to take the family to and enjoy a fun filled day out.