Osterley Park (with social distancing)

I took the kids to Osterley Park (National Trust site) last week to see what a ‘typical’ visit is like, now that we’re easing off on lockdown restrictions in a coronavirus world.

Pre-booking and restrictions (as at 16th July 2020)

The park is open to pedestrian access, but you will need to book if you wish to visit the gardens and you are arriving on foot. You’ll also need to pre-book if you want to use the car park (selecting a 30 min slot for your arrival).

The car park, park grounds, toilets and nature trail/manor garden behind the manor are all open, but the house, bookshop, shop and cafe remain closed until further notice.​

The car park closed at 5pm sharp, so we were a little rushed at the end.

The nature trail still has the den-building area, and wooden adventure apparatus, but the rope swings have been tied up out of reach.

You’ll need to book your tickets by 3pm the day ​before your visit. Members can book for free, while non-members will need to pay when booking. Tickets are released every Friday.​

Exploring the park

The park has great places explore. The ducks and geese in the big pond are always popular, and the park has plenty of open space to run around in.

We headed straight to the ‘nature trail’ behind the manor house and took a clockwise loop. We found a big tree to climb (Biggie and Middlie’s favourite thing to do now since the playgrounds became off-limits), and the stream on the left has a lovely brood of ducklings that prompted shrieks of delight from Littlie.

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Carrying on round the trail, we found the den-building area, next to the first rope swings (currently tied up and out of use). There are plenty of straight branches and half-constructed dens to spark the imagination, and there’s even a bell halfway up one the climbing trees to ring.

We had an impromptu game of hide and seek. This is Littlie’s best effort at hiding:

Further down the trail there are various wooden climbing bits, stepping stones, ramps and beams to play on. These were a big hit and I have several videos of the kids trying to make an obstacle course out of them. Even Littlie tried his best.

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We’d timed our trip for the afternoon, but I hadn’t realised until we arrived that the car park closed at 5pm, so we were a little rushed at the end. We had to make a bee-line for the manor halfway round the nature trail loop. To do tis we walked through the central pasture that had grazing cows. This was great for the kids as they enjoyed seeing them, but there was lots of poo-dodging to do! Littlie, of course, loved it, shouting “Poo-poo!” every time he saw some.

All in all, it was a lovely trip and it wasn’t crowded at all. The kids got outdoors, had fun and burned off some energy. Job done.

If you need more outing ideas…

This is review is part of a longer list of family activities and outings that are possible in a post-lockdown world, so feel free to click here to see the full list of recommendations and current restrictions (accurate as at 16th July 2020).