Ryton Pools 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 ...

one mile (1.6 km) south west of the village of Ryton on Dunsmore in

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The park occupies an area of about and contains four pools, the largest of which covers approximately . Professional

park ranger A ranger, park ranger, park warden, field ranger, or forest ranger is a person entrusted with protecting and preserving parklands and Protected area, protected areas – private, national, state, provincial, or local parks. Their duties include ( ...

s are employed to look after the varied

flora Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for f ...

and

fauna Fauna (: faunae or faunas) is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding terms for plants and fungi are ''flora'' and '' funga'', respectively. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively ...

of the park as well as the general maintenance of pathways and buildings. The park is run by Warwickshire County Council with half in Rugby Borough and half in

Warwick District Warwick is a local government district in Warwickshire, England. It is named after the historic county town of Warwick, which is the district's second largest town; the largest town is Royal Leamington Spa, where the council is based. The district ...

boundary. The area of the park containing the pools is reasonably flat and suitable for

wheelchair A wheelchair is a mobilized form of chair using two or more wheels, a footrest, and an armrest usually cushioned. It is used when walking is difficult or impossible to do due to illnesses, injury, disabilities, or age-related health conditio ...

access.

History

Lower Palaeolithic The Lower Paleolithic (or Lower Palaeolithic) is the earliest subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. It spans the time from around 3.3 million years ago when the first evidence for stone tool production and use by hominins appears ...

hand axes have been found in the sand and gravel pits close to the park. These indicate that Heidelberg Man (

Homo heidelbergensis ''Homo heidelbergensis'' is a species of archaic human from the Middle Pleistocene of Europe and Africa, as well as potentially Asia depending on the taxonomic convention used. The species-level classification of ''Homo'' during the Middle Pleis ...

), lived here about half a million years. At the same time the area would have been dominated by the huge Bytham River, which was, at the time, the second largest river in what is now England. The Bytham was destroyed by advancing ice sheets around 450,000 years ago. Much more recently the park was a set of fields until 1965 when the land was purchased and used as a

landfill A landfill is a site for the disposal of waste materials. It is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of waste with daily, intermediate and final covers only began in the 1940s. In the past, waste was ...

site for the nearby towns of

Leamington Spa Royal Leamington Spa, commonly known as Leamington Spa or simply LeamingtonEven more colloquially, also referred to as Lem or Leam (). (), is a spa town and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. Originally a small village called Leamington Pri ...

, Rugby and

Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...

. Waste was dumped there for 27 years until 1992 when work started on developing part of the site into a country park, which included the flooding of the pits. The park officially opened in 1996 with over 2,500

trees In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only p ...

and

shrubs A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

being planted. In the late 1990s the remainder of the landfill site was filled in and new pools were created, as well as the provision of several portable metal cabins to act as information centres. These were superseded by better and more permanent wooden ones in 2002, although the metal ones are still in use.

Facilities

The grounds have official opening times which vary according to the seasons; however, visitors can enter the park on-foot outside these hours if they wish. There are two car parks in the park, and there is currently a flat rate charge of £3.50 for any vehicle to enter the park. Public transport to the park is extremely limited. Facilities at the park include a visitor centre/cafe and gift shop, two children's play areas for different ages of children, a bird hide, a cycle hire centre, miles of pathed and unpathed walks, and

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

facilities and a

miniature railway A ridable miniature railway (US: riding railroad or grand scale railroad) is a large scale, usually ground-level railway that hauls passengers using locomotives that are often models of full-sized railway locomotives (powered by Diesel engine, ...

run by the Coventry Model Engineering Society. The railway is around 610 metres (2000ft or so) long and operates for the public every Sunday afternoon (1pm-4pm) from Easter until the end of September. Train rides are £1 per person per ride with the journey lasting around 6 minutes or so. Trains are hauled by either a steam or diesel locomotive. (All trains run weather permitting). The park also organises events for children such as parties,

birds of prey Birds of prey or predatory birds, also known as (although not the same as) raptors, are hypercarnivorous bird species that actively predation, hunt and feed on other vertebrates (mainly mammals, reptiles and smaller birds). In addition to speed ...

spotting, "creepy crawly club",

nest box A nest box, also spelled nestbox, is a man-made enclosure provided for animals to nest in. Nest boxes are most frequently utilized for birds, in which case they are also called birdhouses or a birdbox/bird box, but some mammals such as bats ma ...

building, and "prams in the park" (walking for parents with babies). There is a bird hide located by one of the pools where visitors can observe the wildlife in relative quiet.

Energy from methane

methane Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The abundance of methane on Earth makes ...

-powered electricity generator is situated in the park. It uses the methane which results from the decomposition of the organic rubbish that was dumped nearby when the area was used as a

site. In one year it provides the National Grid with enough electricity to run the equivalent of 18

secondary schools A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

or roughly 2,000 houses. Information about the project, which is intended primarily for school children, is available within the generator building where there is also an opportunity to see the generators themselves.

Ryton Wood

Ryton Wood, situated next to the country park, is of oak woodland which is designated 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 ...

, and owned by Warwickshire Wildlife Trust. It is also open to the public.

References

External links

*
Ryton Pools information on the Warwickshire County Council websiteExploring the Ryton Pools Landscape Trail Leaflet/Guide & Interpretation Panel from Warwickshire Geological Conservation Group (WGCG)
{{coord, 52.34931, -1.45383, type:landmark_region:GB_source:enwiki-osgb36(SP373725), display=title Country parks in Warwickshire Borough of Rugby Warwick District