A recent addition to the Milton Keynes park scene is the new park at Willen Lake, which opened at the end of September 2021. The new park is over an acre in size, making it Milton Keynes’ biggest free to use play area. After it had been open a few weeks I took Ivy to visit and have an explore one sunny afternoon.
The park is split into two areas, a toddler area for smaller children, and a larger area for bigger more adventurous children. The park has been decorated with a nautical theme, which looks great next to the lake.
Toddler Area
We spent most of our park visit in the toddler’s area which is at the back of the park, as I had my 2-year-old daughter with me, and this area was better suited to her. The toddler’s area is made up of two climbing frames with slides, an accessible roundabout, a park rocker, and a bucket swing. This area of the park has also been designed with smooth and soft flooring, and plenty of space to allow pushchairs and wheelchairs to access the play equipment. The roundabout is also accessible, and the slides are extra wide – which is great to see a park that’s been designed with everyone in mind.
One thing that I found odd about the toddler area is this is the only part of the park that you will find swings in. And actually, you’ll only find one toddler swing, one normal swing, and one basket swing – for a park of this size I would have hoped to see more swings, and I found it a bit strange that they are only in the area for smaller children, meaning if older children want to use the swings they’ve got to navigate around smaller children.
Ivy enjoyed playing on the two climbing frames and whizzing down the slides, however, the wooden one on top of the hill was quite a struggle for her to get up. Ivy is a very adventurous child, and usually has no problems climbing, but really struggled to climb up this – had there been another bar on the climbing frame I think she would have been fine. The steps also get really slippy so watch out – it was dry when we visited and Ivy still slipped off, so I can imagine it’s much worse if it’s been raining or muddy.
Older Children’s Area
The older children’s area of the park is the first thing you’ll see when you arrive there, it’s spread out nicely so you’re not playing on top of each other! We didn’t spend much time in the older childrens’ area as all of it is designed for much bigger children than my 2-year-old, not that that stopped her trying to have a go.
There are several climbing frames of different sizes, including a large lookout climbing frame, loads of slides, an assault course, and a huge rope bridge. It looks like it could be great fun for older children, especially the huge lookout climbing frame and slide!
We did enjoy our trip to see the new Willen Lake park, but I didn’t think much of the toddler’s area, to be honest. Like I mentioned earlier in the post, a lot of it was built too high for Ivy to climb on, whereas there are plenty of other parks in Milton Keynes she can climb on with ease. I do think the older children’s area is much better, and maybe when Ivy is older she’ll enjoy this section more. I also think it’s a shame there are so few swings, and I imagine there will be a bit of struggle to get on them when the park is busy.
I do think it’s a great park and a lot of thought has gone into designing it, but it’s not going to be one I’ll rush back to.
How to Find it
The Willen Lake park is at Willen Lake, Milton Keynes. The best address for visiting the park is V10 Brickhill St, Milton Keynes MK15 0DT, use the map below for directions. When we visited we parked at Willen Lake North Car Park, which you can pay for parking on the way out.
I’ve Enjoyed Willen Lake Park, Where Can I Go Next?
If you’ve enjoyed visiting Willen Lake Park and want to go somewhere else after, there are loads of things you can do at Willen Lake alone! The main reason we usually visit Willen Lake is to walk around the lakes, it usually takes us the best part of 2 hours to walk around with the two children – but that’s at a slow amble and stopping to look at things as we go around. There are loads to see as you walk around, including the Milton Keynes Peace Pagoda, the Willen Lake Maze, The Circle of Hearts Medicine Wheel, and just a short walk to the Tree Cathedral or Popular Plantation.
If you’re looking to get some food next to the park, you’ll find Benugo Bar and Kitchen where you can grab a coffee or lunch, or if you’re looking for an alternative to grab some food there’s The Lakeside Pub & Grill just a short walk down from the park. There are also several food vans around that area of Willen Lake, our favourite is to grab some doughnuts for a walk around!
And if you’re looking for more activities to do with the kids at Willen Lake there’s the splash park, the Willen Observation Wheel, Treetop Extreme and Aqua Parks.
