Great Notley Country Park

I love going here with my grandchildren. There's plenty of swings/slides etc for the children and some lovely walks. There is also a much appreciated cafe for a drink or snack. It's always clean and tidy and well signposted

Perfect size park with different kinds of playgrounds spread across the whole park which makes the experience even more fun for the kids.It's not 5 stars because the cafe was closed during the bank holiday, sky rope was also closed and the football pitches were only available after paying quite expensive fees.Car park fees were not cheap but reasonable, especially if you plan to stay more than 4 hours.Worth the visit.

Small child loved the play trail and the Sky Ropes! Cafe was closed, but worth looking at Cafe Plaza just south of the park if you're planning on eating- spend £9.50 in the cafe and you get free parking for the entire day (and the country park parking charges are HIGH!)

Excavations in Great Notley revealed the remains of Iron Age and Roman settlements with a series of enclosures overlaid with a Roman development on the site of the Skyline Business Park. It is thought that there was a series of occupations on the site from the late Iron Age onwards, which included brewing, farming and the production of textiles.Great Notley Country Park however is relatively new, having been created from the remnants of Gt Notley Village when it was developed as part of the new 'self-sustaining' garden village.It has grown up with the community surrounding it, and is quite unique in that its wildflower meadows, lakes and other landmarks were created from scratch and over the years have grown and developed in to what you see today.Whether you're an adventurer at heart or just want to relax and unwind in Essex's beautiful countryside, Great Notley Country Park offers the perfect day out for all the family.Covering 100 acres of open space the park is home to Sky Ropes, the fun, family friendly high ropes adventure course as well as Essex’s longest kid’s play trail.Jump, swing, slide, crawl and climb your way around 1.2km of fun including giant seesaws, swing scales, rope climbers, slides, forts and a large sand play area.Looking for something a bit quieter? The park also offers some lovely areas to explore and enjoy nature including a fishing lake and wildflower meadows. It’s popular for a wide range of activities including birdwatching, walking, cycling, fishing, horse riding, football, picnics and kite-flying.Read our summer Wildflower Walks blog to find out more about what you can spot.Great Notley Country Park is delighted to have been awarded Green Flag status again this year as well as being nominated for the Fields in Trust Award for Best UK Park.Eating & DrinkingThe café currently offers outdoor seating and takeaways, serving a range of sandwiches, snacks and drinks, with menus changing seasonally. This includes a selection of ice cream flavours, perfect for hot summer days, and coffee and hot chocolate for when you need to warm up.

Lovely outdoor space for a walk and for the kids to have a good day out. Nice play areas set up along a nice trail walk.Out door climbing wooden structure available at a cost.Will most certainly go again.

Excellent facilities, lots of play equipment, leafy gravel paths and fishing lake. Cafe and toilets on site.

It is a beautiful park, if your going for longer than half an hour here's a local tip, park elsewhere and walk over. Car park is over priced and avoided by most. Easily one of the more expensive car parks in Essex and doesn't provide value for money.

What a fantastic place, you just feel connected to nature...the children loved the playground

Heaps of wild life and a small shop for some souvenir of visit

Had a great time with our nieces who were down from Leeds.They enjoyed using the play area, & were down while the inflatables were on, so they enjoyed the added bonus of that.Our dog also enjoyed the walk.Sadly only one thing let down the park. The lack of waste bins, we didn't find any. (Only the ice cream van had a black bag). The dog waste bins were overflowing with human rubbish.There were empty plastic bottles & sandwich wrappers scattered around.We obviously repacked our rubbish into our picnic bag & took it home. Unfortunately not everyone did!Happy to pay the parking charges for the upkeep of the park, but to have no bins isn't good.