Colwick Country Park is a

country park A country park is a natural area designated for people to visit and enjoy recreation in a countryside environment. United Kingdom History In the United Kingdom, the term ''country park'' has a specific meaning. There are around 250 designated c ...

Colwick Colwick ( ) is a village and civil parish, in the Borough of Gedling of Nottinghamshire, England. It is situated to the east of Nottingham's city boundary, and forms the Colwick ward. At the time of the 2011 census, the village had a populat ...

, Nottingham, England.

History

The estate upon which the park resides dates back to 1362. The current house,

Colwick Hall Colwick Hall was an English country house in Colwick, Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshir ...

, was built in the late 18th century and is now a privately-owned hotel. The Country Park opened in 1978, with former gravel workings being landscaped and planted to form a recreational facility for Nottingham. A new visitor centre facility is planned.

Facilities

The park has two lakes, Main Lake covers and West Lake covers . West Lake is home to the Nottingham City

Open Water Swimming Open water swimming is a swimming discipline which takes place in outdoor bodies of water such as open oceans, lakes, and rivers. Competitive open water swimming is governed by the International Swimming Federation, World Aquatics (formerly kno ...

Centre with organised swimming sessions (with swimming not permitted at other times), it is also stocked with

carp The term carp (: carp) is a generic common name for numerous species of freshwater fish from the family (biology), family Cyprinidae, a very large clade of ray-finned fish mostly native to Eurasia. While carp are prized game fish, quarries and a ...

for fishing and has canoeing and sailing. There are educational facilities, children's play areas, wildlife areas, dog walking, orienteering,

geocaching Geocaching (, ) is an outdoor recreational activity, in which participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called ''geocaches'' or ''caches'', at sp ...

, bird watching and wildlife photography, cycling, horse riding and ranger led activities. There is a centre with activities including power boating, camp crafts and windsurfing. A

Parkrun Parkrun (stylised as parkrun) is a collection of 5K run, events for runners, walkers and volunteers that take place every Saturday morning at more than 2,000 locations in 23 countries across five continents. Parkrun was founded by Paul Sinto ...

takes place every Saturday morning at 9am, except during pandemics, comprising one lap of Main Lake and two laps of West Lake. There is also a

marina A marina (from Spanish , Portuguese and Italian : "related to the sea") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships or cargo ...

for mooring at the

River Trent The Trent is the third Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, longest river in the United Kingdom. Its Source (river or stream), source is in Staffordshire, on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through and drains the North Midlands ...

Fauna and flora

The Racecourse and Pool is a

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

due to its

dragonfly A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of dragonflies are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threat ...

species, this site has recorded 16 species of dragonfly with 14 species breeding. There are around 220 recorded species of birds. The park is also the site of the largest fish ladder in Britain, giving migratory fish a route to avoid the Colwick Sluices on the River Trent.

References

{{commonscat, Colwick Country Park Country parks in England Country parks in Nottinghamshire