A little bit of California? Not exactly...but it's Berkshire at its best! (California Country Park)

Member Name: azana

Product:	California Country Park
Date:	05/09/09 (141 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fab place for walking and fun

Disadvantages: non really

California Country park, far from being situated on the west coast of America is a park and lake which is situated in Finchampstead, near to Wokingham in Berkshire and is run and owned by the Borough council.

Back in the 1930's and 1940's, many a day tripper on a "mystery tour" found themselves in Californa Country Park, the entrepreneur who owned it at the time having taken the name from the nearby collection of shops and post office. It must have been quite exotic in its heyday, as one could swim, see racing on the speedway, go boating, visit a small zoo and miniature railway and even dance on a glass dance floor which allegedly contained parts of the Crystal palace.

Nowadays California Country Park's glorious history is a long distant memory, long gone along with that dance floor; what remains is a lake, cafe, and play area with a large paddling pool that still delights the locals who visit the 100 acres of park. The boating, train and swimming possibilites may be no more, but there is still plenty for visitors to enjoy.

The country park is free for all, though there is a £1 charge for parking and if you visit you should be sure to stop at the machine at the entrance as it is the only one on the whole site. There is also a campsite within the park, a nod to the park's previous day tripper haven incarnation - at one point there was a holiday camp here, but now there is just a collection of mobile homes and some camping pitches.

If you visit you can find out all about the park's glory days by visiting the cafe, which is open every day from 10am and is extremely good value, and rather exotically named "California Dreaming". I have eaten many a yummy square of millionaire's shortbread there whilst my children play in the inside play area - there are a couple of rides and a little tikes kitchen that keep them occupied for a little while whilst I relax with a coffee generally.

The play area outside has baby swings, a slide and for older children there is a zip wire and various things to climb on. Recently Wokingham borough council planned to improve this area and applied for various grants - as far as I know they were not successful, and the future development of the park is uncertain. In the meantime the play area is good enough fun for children, there is a good area for older children with balancing beams and chains to walk across, and for younger ones a little slide and swings suffice. On sunny days you can also pay £1.10 per child (fee payable at the aforementioned parking machine) for them to use the rather splendid paddling pool that is featured in the picture. This is fully manned and has clean, filtered water and there are tight controls over the number of accompanied children allowed into this area. It can get very busy on hot days and the romantic side of me likes to imagine that the atmosphere is like that back in the 1930's heyday - the park becomes a little corner of holiday in the woods.

Walk around the lake - at 0.9 miles just the right length for little legs if you have the children with you, and you will see many different species of wildlife. The poor ducks must get fed up of the sight of bread proffered by well-meaning toddlers - bags of stale bread can be purchased from the cafe for 20p if you forget your own. There is also a 2.2 mile woodland walk for the energetic, whilst the more laid back no doubt enjoy the fishing - permits also available from, guess where, the car park machine. The paths are pretty well maintained and a favourite for dog walkers and children on scooters and the like - it really is a lovely place for a walk.

We often go to a park for an hour and end up staying much longer, it is the kind of place that you can go to and not watch the time and where there are special events from time to time - the local NCT organise scavenger hunts, and recently there were bikes back from the speedway days on show too. The cafe used to have a little make your own pottery area, but this is no more and I think also awaits development. In the meantime after a short walk the cafe is a great place for a piece of toast or a more copious snack, and is also where the toilets are situated. The building being a little old the toilets are quite basic and a little dingy, but they are always clean and there is a small baby changing area and disabled toilet - disabled parking is also available just outside the cafe.

California Country Park is a great place to visit if you are in the area, I think these days you would be pretty disappointed if it were your mystery tour destination, but it is still a place that I love to visit in every season, rain or shine. Sometimes, just sometimes when the sun is shining, with icecream in hand and the sound of my children happily splashing in the paddling pool I almost could imagine myself in the real California, and for a hard-pushed to spend a fiver visit, that's not bad!

Address:
Nine Mile Ride
Finchampstead
Berkshire
RG40 4HT 0118 934 2016

Summary: A great place to visit if you are in the area