Leicestershire is probably one of the furthest points in England from a beach, so when you’re craving a day at the seaside, or are on the search for a beach within easy drive of the East Midlands, I’d really recommend heading to Bosworth Water Park.

Here’s our little review of the walks and facilities open as of June 2020.

As of June 2020, you’re able to access everything aside from the campsite, play areas and water hire activities, so we ended up having a lovely half-day at the “seaside”, without having to travel far from home.

We turned up at 9am, expecting it to be very busy, being a sunny Sunday in June. Incredibly, we had the place near to ourselves for at least the first hour.

By 10.30-11am the beach had started to build up, but there was still plenty of space to enjoy everything on offer.

Bosworth Water Park has everything you need for a summer holiday, daytrip, or weekend with the family – and when it reopens fully, I know it will be a fantastic place to head back to.

There are stunning walks around the lakes, fishing, amusements, candy floss, ice cream van, a cafe, crazy golf, and a whole host of watersports. In “normal” times, you can also hire pedalos and other boats for the family to enjoy.

The campsites look well kitted out, where you can pitch your tent, hire a caravan or a log cabin, or bring your own campervan, so you can turn it into a full summer beach holiday with the family.

The highlight for Lily was definitely the Blue Lagoon beach – a manmade beach area where families can paddle and enjoy the sand.

The area is surrounded by grass, so you can put your picnic blanket on the edge, and let the little ones play in the sand areas. There are also plenty of bins around too, and it is a pretty place to take a walk.

There is also a huge Black Pearl Adventure Playground play area for families (not open as of June 2020), and several large sandpits to play in.

There are slides, swings and plenty of places for the children to explore and climb on – Lily is very excited to head here when it opens!

The little Beachcomber shop and visitor reception has everything you need for the beach, including bucket and spades, beach games, cold drinks and ice creams.

You can also hire golf clubs here to enjoy the crazy golf, as well as all the essentials you may have forgotten for camping.

To the back of the shop there are toilets to one side, which are currently open again, with social distancing signs on the door.

On the other side of the shop is the Water’s Edge cafe area and bar, with plenty of outdoor picnic benches. Here you can buy hot and cold drinks, hot and cold food such as sandwiches and chips, snacks, and kids’ lunch boxes.

We brought our own picnic, but enjoyed a coffee and a cold apple juice from the cafe.

The crazy golf is a small putting area between the car park area and the shop. They have sterilised clubs and balls in the shop to hire, then you put them in a separate area when you return them, so they can be safely sterilised again for the next users.

You can also find another large sandpit area to the back of the cafe, and where I believe you can access straight from the campsite.

We had a lovely time at Bosworth Water Park and will definitely head back again when more of the facilities are open, however as it stands, there wasn’t anything else we could have needed for the morning. Lily is definitely excited to check out the pedalos!

Parking was also very easy. It is £3 per hour for parking, which although could sound a lot, you need to remember it is a private company, so you’re paying to access the facilities – so by taking the whole family out for half a day for less than £10, it really is a great price for what you can do there.

We took a picnic, bucket and spade, a towel and a blanket, and didn’t need anything else – just a coffee and an ice lolly when we were there! Lily wants to go back and try the camping in the summer, so with everything you could need there, I think it will be a lovely place for a weekend adventure.

Tips for visiting with the family

• Parking is £3 per hour and you can pay by contactless, card or cash
• You do not need to prebook to visit
• Crazy golf is £3 per person or £10 for a family of 4
• According to their accessibility statement: All entrances to buildings and services are accessible on ground level with no steps. Dedicated toilets and parking are available for customers with mobility problems. For access to the disabled parking facility please press the red help button at the second barrier.
• Toilets and baby changing facilities are open
• You can buy duck food or fish food at the little shop if you like
• You can get hot and cold drinks, food and snacks all day
• Don’t forget to bring everything you would for the beach – towels, suncream, hat, swimwear, spare clothes, blanket or chairs!

For more information, visit the website here