Wepre Park

What a beautiful day it was yesterday. It did help that I had another day off work. I do love my job but I do love play days more, and work gets very serious from next Wednesday onwards for quite some time but I will tell you all about that another day.  

I contemplated the beach yesterday but child #1 and #2 had other plans. Child #3, however, is very fond of Wepre park mostly because it contains a 'Skate Park' where he can ride around on his BMX and try out the ramps etc whilst learning from the bigger kids. Big groups of teenagers are often given a bad name and labelled as 'no good' yet all I ever witness there is a bunch of kids that look out for one another, especially the younger ones. If child #3 falls he has a crowd of kids there within seconds to make sure he is ok and if he isn't then I am summoned immediately by any one of them.

We live in North East Wales, and whilst we are very close to some of the most beautiful areas of the UK, my exact location doesn't really fit that description. How I ended up living here is a long story but I remain in this area because it makes my children happy. They have their friends, some family, and they like their schools so whilst they are growing I have no plans to relocate. However, there are some parts of this little town that I actually really love and Wepre Park is probably at the top of that list. Unlike child #3, I don't love it because of the skate park so I used some bargaining power with my youngest yesterday: 

"Can we go to the Skate Park today mummy? :) " 

"Yes...IF...at some point you will walk with mummy to the castle?"

"But but...I want to ride my bike!!??"

"Well...ok...but if we go for the whole afternoon then we could do both?"

[Child #3 thinks]

"And I will buy you ice cream"

"OK!! :)"

Its so easy sometimes. So I took a book, and the ripple blanket project, and this month's 'Let's Knit' and camped out in the sun whilst he cycled for an hour or so. Then, when he asked for ice-cream, I packed all that up and got the camera out. This is why I love Wepre Park...come with us...its a bit photo heavy...but its a beautiful walk, on a beautiful day. Its a beautiful walk in every season really, and I am sure I will show you the walk in the other seasons as they happen later in the year, but for now, this is summer...

Possibly my favourite picture from yesterday.

The famous 'Red Rocks'.

He did ask to go on this walk in the end...honest !

So many steps for such little legs...

...but its worth it!

At the top of all those steps you reach the remains of Ewloe Castle...

All that is required is a crown!

Some Views from the top...

And then back down again...

Now for the walk back to the park. We take a slightly different route for a very good reason...

Clearly the picture taking is beginning to annoy!

Nearly there...

(This was my 2nd favourite pic.)

Finally we reach the waterfall...

So that's it. We then, as promised, returned to the Skate Park, where I continued with the ripples and reading and he proceeded to launch himself off ramps!

On the way back I was contacted by Child #2, who had returned from an overnight stay at a friends. "Where are you all? I'm at home xx" I resisted temptation to respond with "Out." and instead invited her to join us, which she did. In true Child #2 style, she lasted five minutes sat with me, at which point she spotted some friends and I was deserted again, but it was nice to see her for those five minutes!

We all remained there until tea time, not that we really wanted to leave then either though.

If you would like to read the official Wepre Park information you can read this PDF thanks to Flintshire County Council. It does contain lots of information about the history of the park, castle and various other things that I have shown you.

Discover Wepre Park booklet (PDF 1MB new window)