Astbury Mere Country Park

100 and counting! With the arrival of a Common Tern last weekend that’s the number of different bird species that have already been recorded within the country park this year – more than any previous total.
Thanks must go to the core group of enthusiastic naturalists who continue to monitor the wealth of wildlife that thrives in the park. www.astburywildlife.blogspot.com

If you fancy feeding the ducks try seeds, porridge oats or lettuce, please don't reach for a loaf!

Another great Outdoor Experience Disability Day was held last week with youngsters and their families from across the borough enjoying a number of activities in the country park organised by Everybody Sport and Recreation www.everybody.org.uk . The highlight this year was a visit from the Kingsley Bird of Prey Centre www.kingsleyfalconry.co.uk with their wonderful collection of baby birds which visitors could hold, touch and feed. An truly unforgettable experience.

Another swimmer missing in a flooded quarry, not local but very relevant. Astbury Mere is a very dangerous place to swim and recently there have been several "near misses" including swimmers who have been drinking and had to be rescued by the sailing centre and kids falling in when paddling. SOTAS have quite clearly sign posted "NO SWIMMING" and the mere does not have full time life guards, so please don't take the chance with your life and that of anyone who may have to help you. https://www.bbc.co.uk/…/uk-england-cove ntry-warwickshire-44…

It’s not only birds that some of our regular naturalists have been recording on site. This time of year butterflies, plants and reptiles are some of the other species that have been seen and recorded on the sightings board just outside the visitor centre. Why not come and have look for yourself?

Children from Marlfields Primary School were in the park on Wednesday, making a start planting flowers and herbs in the new beds outside GG’s Coffee Hub. Not only has our local community been involved in support of Congleton Bloom, but we’re also looking to be as environmentally friendly as possible, filling the beds utilising wood chip from the park as a drainage medium along with compost recycled from Congleton Park. Once established the plants will all be watered by rain collected from the roof of the café and fertilised with the waste coffee grounds from the café

The hot dry weather has brought on an early hay harvest for many. In the country park we vary the times that the wildflower grasslands are cut to help encourage a diversity of plants. The Spring Meadow in the Community Wildlife Area has just been cut, whilst the summer meadow will be cut in late August

Is that a mouse on a toadstool – or a mouse on a fungus? Sometimes nature can supersede our attempts to portray it – as can be seen with one of our sculptures in the community orchard.

GG's Coffee Hub has been a magnet for visitors to the country park since it opened a couple of weeks ago. Unsurprisingly ice creams have been particularly popular!
www.facebook.com/GGsCoffeeHub

Come and try our new café at Astbury Mere.

We love visiting the park it is clean, well maintained, good facilities toliet seat & information centre. The area is flat therefore good for walking if you have a disability, the car park is fairly large & lots of interest i.e birds, trees, water activity centre also plenty of benches around the lake.

Very nice lake and walk around. I enjoyed watching a women asking an anti social dog owner to pick up the dog's mess. So, apart from a few filthy, selfish twats, the park users are good folk too!!

So lucky to live next to this beautiful spot, very easy walk around the lake, just one mile circumstance, paths are flat and well maintained, lovely for families, ice cream available at the sailing club and at the other side where there are toilets and coffee available. Great if you want to jog/run or just stroll round.

Really lovely place. A nice little walk around the water. Met the lovely Digby..the rangers dog I think??? We will definitely be back throughout the year.

Lovely walk very clean and dogs loved it

It is lovely to have a nice walk the paths are flat so it's good for disabled people it's great for dogs to. It's very clean, it could do with more bins though

I often come 5 mins up the road to chill with my dog in this peaceful beautiful spot .

I love to go to this park, it's always clean and it's so serene and scenic. Although summer time is very busy but plenty room for everyone. I like to go for the day with my friends and take a picnic. We sit on the grass and take a dip in the beautiful lake. Roll on summer but do love to go for winter walks too X

Great place to take dogs for a walk. Views are amazing and plenty of benches if you need one. Lovely place for a picnic and there is also a van selling Ice cream and coffee

Fantastic short walk that's not challenging for anyone.

Access for all users with well made pathways



My dog loves the water so it's a no brainier.

We keep her away from any of the people who may be fishing



Really nice place with good coffee bar in car park

Fabulous walk in the spring sunshine. Very peaceful. Will be taking the mother in her wheelchair as it seemed very accessible. Lovely meadow area for a picnic.

There's blue algae in the Mere so don't let your dogs swim in it, and people (naturally) let their dogs off their Leeds so be wary of you've got babies or small children. Other than that it's a lovely couple of hours out in the fresh air.

Bought the kids to enjoy the sun yesterday and we all loved it . Such a lovely place

Beautiful place to go for a walk we to our dogs and made sure they were on a lead unfortunately there were lots of dogs not on the leads which is a shame as it spoiled the walk.There was also a great deal of dog poo that had not been cleaned up by the dog owners such a shame it's a beautiful place to visit and has great facilities

Beautiful little place to have a lovely walk and it's not too far, 1 mile circuit. Pushchair friendly. The little coffee van is perfect with a few tables n chairs to sit on. I shall be back with my son as he want to go do some water activities at the centre on the side of the lake. Lots going on.

After getting a much needed supply of oatcakes from the Potteries, we called here on the way back to Lancashire in the hope of finding somewhere suitable to eat our picnic lunch. We were not disappointed. After a walk around the well maintained lakeside path, which was surprisingly dog poo free, we found a seat where we could peacefully eat our lunch and admire the lake and beautiful surrounding scenery.

Our visit was midweek, but I expect the park is probably much busier at weekends and in the school holidays.

A little gem. Visited for the 1st 11.09.16 and what a lovely place to visit, a haven for families, dog walkers and runners alike. The mere has a couple of other walks off the main path plus a visitor centre. Car park can get busy though.

Very pleasant country park and lake, I was there for Congleton Park Run so saw all round the lake three times. Nice path easy for those not so mobile and parking and toilets by the entrance. Its Community run so donate to help with the upkeep please.

Lovely place for a walk, spoilt by inconsiderate dog owners, poo not cleaned, dogs NOT on leashes! I have a dog, always on a leash, it's a public place, children and timid dogs and adults who are scared of dogs ( I'm one after a bad attack from a dog) do not want to be intimidated by loose dogs or their owners!

A fabulous place but as a dog owner I will be avoiding it again as with the dangers of Blue Algae with swimming dogs (Labrador) having had a poisoning in previous experience with our dog (admittedly in Scotland Loch but same blue algae) feel I should warn all dog owners to keep their dogs out of the waters as warned by the signs all round the lake. Blue algae kills dogs!

We love visiting the park it is clean, well maintained, good facilities toliet seat & information centre. The area is flat therefore good for walking if you have a disability, the car park is fairly large & lots of interest i.e birds, trees, water activity centre also plenty of benches around the lake.

Very nice lake and walk around. I enjoyed watching a women asking an anti social dog owner to pick up the dog's mess. So, apart from a few filthy, selfish twats, the park users are good folk too!!

So lucky to live next to this beautiful spot, very easy walk around the lake, just one mile circumstance, paths are flat and well maintained, lovely for families, ice cream available at the sailing club and at the other side where there are toilets and coffee available. Great if you want to jog/run or just stroll round.

Really lovely place. A nice little walk around the water. Met the lovely Digby..the rangers dog I think??? We will definitely be back throughout the year.

Lovely walk very clean and dogs loved it

It is lovely to have a nice walk the paths are flat so it's good for disabled people it's great for dogs to. It's very clean, it could do with more bins though

I often come 5 mins up the road to chill with my dog in this peaceful beautiful spot .

I love to go to this park, it's always clean and it's so serene and scenic. Although summer time is very busy but plenty room for everyone. I like to go for the day with my friends and take a picnic. We sit on the grass and take a dip in the beautiful lake. Roll on summer but do love to go for winter walks too X

Great place to take dogs for a walk. Views are amazing and plenty of benches if you need one. Lovely place for a picnic and there is also a van selling Ice cream and coffee

Fantastic short walk that's not challenging for anyone.

Access for all users with well made pathways



My dog loves the water so it's a no brainier.

We keep her away from any of the people who may be fishing



Really nice place with good coffee bar in car park

Fabulous walk in the spring sunshine. Very peaceful. Will be taking the mother in her wheelchair as it seemed very accessible. Lovely meadow area for a picnic.

There's blue algae in the Mere so don't let your dogs swim in it, and people (naturally) let their dogs off their Leeds so be wary of you've got babies or small children. Other than that it's a lovely couple of hours out in the fresh air.

Bought the kids to enjoy the sun yesterday and we all loved it . Such a lovely place

Beautiful place to go for a walk we to our dogs and made sure they were on a lead unfortunately there were lots of dogs not on the leads which is a shame as it spoiled the walk.There was also a great deal of dog poo that had not been cleaned up by the dog owners such a shame it's a beautiful place to visit and has great facilities

Beautiful little place to have a lovely walk and it's not too far, 1 mile circuit. Pushchair friendly. The little coffee van is perfect with a few tables n chairs to sit on. I shall be back with my son as he want to go do some water activities at the centre on the side of the lake. Lots going on.

After getting a much needed supply of oatcakes from the Potteries, we called here on the way back to Lancashire in the hope of finding somewhere suitable to eat our picnic lunch. We were not disappointed. After a walk around the well maintained lakeside path, which was surprisingly dog poo free, we found a seat where we could peacefully eat our lunch and admire the lake and beautiful surrounding scenery.

Our visit was midweek, but I expect the park is probably much busier at weekends and in the school holidays.

A little gem. Visited for the 1st 11.09.16 and what a lovely place to visit, a haven for families, dog walkers and runners alike. The mere has a couple of other walks off the main path plus a visitor centre. Car park can get busy though.

Very pleasant country park and lake, I was there for Congleton Park Run so saw all round the lake three times. Nice path easy for those not so mobile and parking and toilets by the entrance. Its Community run so donate to help with the upkeep please.

Lovely place for a walk, spoilt by inconsiderate dog owners, poo not cleaned, dogs NOT on leashes! I have a dog, always on a leash, it's a public place, children and timid dogs and adults who are scared of dogs ( I'm one after a bad attack from a dog) do not want to be intimidated by loose dogs or their owners!

A fabulous place but as a dog owner I will be avoiding it again as with the dangers of Blue Algae with swimming dogs (Labrador) having had a poisoning in previous experience with our dog (admittedly in Scotland Loch but same blue algae) feel I should warn all dog owners to keep their dogs out of the waters as warned by the signs all round the lake. Blue algae kills dogs!

We love visiting the park it is clean, well maintained, good facilities toliet seat & information centre. The area is flat therefore good for walking if you have a disability, the car park is fairly large & lots of interest i.e birds, trees, water activity centre also plenty of benches around the lake.

Very nice lake and walk around. I enjoyed watching a women asking an anti social dog owner to pick up the dog's mess. So, apart from a few filthy, selfish twats, the park users are good folk too!!

So lucky to live next to this beautiful spot, very easy walk around the lake, just one mile circumstance, paths are flat and well maintained, lovely for families, ice cream available at the sailing club and at the other side where there are toilets and coffee available. Great if you want to jog/run or just stroll round.

Really lovely place. A nice little walk around the water. Met the lovely Digby..the rangers dog I think??? We will definitely be back throughout the year.

Lovely walk very clean and dogs loved it

It is lovely to have a nice walk the paths are flat so it's good for disabled people it's great for dogs to. It's very clean, it could do with more bins though

I often come 5 mins up the road to chill with my dog in this peaceful beautiful spot .

I love to go to this park, it's always clean and it's so serene and scenic. Although summer time is very busy but plenty room for everyone. I like to go for the day with my friends and take a picnic. We sit on the grass and take a dip in the beautiful lake. Roll on summer but do love to go for winter walks too X

Great place to take dogs for a walk. Views are amazing and plenty of benches if you need one. Lovely place for a picnic and there is also a van selling Ice cream and coffee

Fantastic short walk that's not challenging for anyone.

Access for all users with well made pathways



My dog loves the water so it's a no brainier.

We keep her away from any of the people who may be fishing



Really nice place with good coffee bar in car park

Fabulous walk in the spring sunshine. Very peaceful. Will be taking the mother in her wheelchair as it seemed very accessible. Lovely meadow area for a picnic.

There's blue algae in the Mere so don't let your dogs swim in it, and people (naturally) let their dogs off their Leeds so be wary of you've got babies or small children. Other than that it's a lovely couple of hours out in the fresh air.

Bought the kids to enjoy the sun yesterday and we all loved it . Such a lovely place

Beautiful place to go for a walk we to our dogs and made sure they were on a lead unfortunately there were lots of dogs not on the leads which is a shame as it spoiled the walk.There was also a great deal of dog poo that had not been cleaned up by the dog owners such a shame it's a beautiful place to visit and has great facilities

Beautiful little place to have a lovely walk and it's not too far, 1 mile circuit. Pushchair friendly. The little coffee van is perfect with a few tables n chairs to sit on. I shall be back with my son as he want to go do some water activities at the centre on the side of the lake. Lots going on.

After getting a much needed supply of oatcakes from the Potteries, we called here on the way back to Lancashire in the hope of finding somewhere suitable to eat our picnic lunch. We were not disappointed. After a walk around the well maintained lakeside path, which was surprisingly dog poo free, we found a seat where we could peacefully eat our lunch and admire the lake and beautiful surrounding scenery.

Our visit was midweek, but I expect the park is probably much busier at weekends and in the school holidays.

A little gem. Visited for the 1st 11.09.16 and what a lovely place to visit, a haven for families, dog walkers and runners alike. The mere has a couple of other walks off the main path plus a visitor centre. Car park can get busy though.

Very pleasant country park and lake, I was there for Congleton Park Run so saw all round the lake three times. Nice path easy for those not so mobile and parking and toilets by the entrance. Its Community run so donate to help with the upkeep please.

Lovely place for a walk, spoilt by inconsiderate dog owners, poo not cleaned, dogs NOT on leashes! I have a dog, always on a leash, it's a public place, children and timid dogs and adults who are scared of dogs ( I'm one after a bad attack from a dog) do not want to be intimidated by loose dogs or their owners!

A fabulous place but as a dog owner I will be avoiding it again as with the dangers of Blue Algae with swimming dogs (Labrador) having had a poisoning in previous experience with our dog (admittedly in Scotland Loch but same blue algae) feel I should warn all dog owners to keep their dogs out of the waters as warned by the signs all round the lake. Blue algae kills dogs!