YES! WE HAVE STARTED PLANNING EVENTS AGAIN

Lockdown easing is progressing, the vaccination programme is continuing apace and the days are getting longer and warmer, so we thought it is time to start planning some things to do in our parks.

But we still have to adhere to the COVID regs so, for the time being, when in the parks please help everyone stay safe by respecting social distancing of 2m and limiting contact, and not sharing items with those outside your immediate household or support bubble.

The Drovers Return café is still open for take-aways, so be sure to visit on the way past.

West Hunsbury Inaugural Easter Scarecrow Festival

We are going to take part in this new festival being organised by West Hunsbury residents Facebook group ~ just for fun. Easter themed scarecrows, bunnies, eggs, etc. should be appearing on or after Friday 26th March.

We understand that Hunsbury Hill WI are also getting involved and we hope most of West Hunsbury will be joining in.

Hope you enjoy.

 

Easter Egg Pebble Hunt(s)

Hunsbury Hill WI are doing another Rocks event in West Hunsbury Parks. This time it’s the HHWI Easter Rocks and they will be hiding seasonally painted pebbles in Wootton Brook Park, around Shelfleys Lake and along the brook in Ladybridge Park, for you to find during the Easter break.

We are planning our own Easter Pebble Egg Hunt and will be hiding half a dozen gold-painted egg pebbles around the Country Park on Easter Sunday and again on Easter Monday 4th / 5th April). Each one found and returned to the Drovers Return will earn an Easter Egg prize.

But please remember when doing any pebble egg hunting in the Parks to stay in your Lockdown groups or support bubbles.

Litter Picks

The Keep Britain Tidy Great British Spring Clean is planned for Friday 28th May to Sunday 13th June, so we will be organising something to help during that fortnight.

Of course, we welcome anyone individually litter picking at any time.

Painting Equipment

Have you got any varnish to spare ? Now that idverde’s Niall has painted the play equipment in Ladybridge Park, we are thinking about varnishing the benches in the little walled picnic area in Wootton Brook Park at some time during the summer, so if you have any external-use varnish that would suit, please let us know. We’ll let you know if we need some help.

Hunsbury Hill Centre Community Festival

Hunsbury Hill Centre, owned and managed by Northamptonshire ACRE, had planned to hold a Community Festival on Sunday 18th July but due to the extended COVID lockdown(s), that has now been moved to Sunday 5th September.

Should be a lot of fun, and it’s FREE ! We shall be there (COVID regs permitting) so hope you will be, too.

Heritage Open Days

Although we have now achieved our ambition to get Shire Horses (well, one anyway) back in the park fields after possibly a hundred years or more, by having Hartwell Shires’ William chain harrow our Wildflower Meadow on 20th September last year (check out photos and videos), we unfortunately were not allowed to make this a public event due to the COVID-19 restrictions, but we WILL be bringing William back to Hunsbury Hill this year once we are allowed to hold public events again and have already started thinking of some ideas for what we can arrange.

We would have liked to have him visit us in the Spring, but lockdown has prevented that, so at the moment we are hoping to get William back for 2021’s Heritage Open Days in September (Fri. 10th to Sun. 19th), subject to his other commitments. We’re thinking of a chain-harrowing competition, but probably not as you know it.

National Tree Planting Week

Rotary Club of Northampton West have kindly offered us some trees to plant, so we are liaising with the club and idverde to choose species, numbers, size, and potential planting locations.

This year, National Tree Planting Week is Sat. 27th November to Sun. 5th December, so we anticipate doing the planting with Rotary and idverde then.

Other things

In the meantime you can always enjoy our Tree Trail and can buy Northampton Lottery  tickets using our dedicated page at any time. You can also read our Poems in the Park for Humour, VE Day, Mothers’ Day, Valentines’ Day and Armistice Day by scrolling through our website Gallery at your leisure.

Please keep an eye on this website and on our Facebook page for updates.