Today we’ve been for a day out to Bourton on the Water. If you’ve visited Bourton on the Water in the summer months then you’ll know that it’s packed full of day trippers. We escaped the hordes of tourists and enjoyed a day at Greystones Farm.

Greystones is a working farm and has been farmed and lived on for 6,000 years. Today it is run by Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust. It is open all year round but the cafe (serving take away only at the moment) is only open Thursday to Sunday 10am to 4pm. The toilets and baby changing facilities are only available when the cafe is open.

There are two walks that you can follow - the Wildlife Walk and the Time-Travel Trail. We chose to do the Wildlife Walk as it takes you down by the River Eye. The walk was signposted brilliantly so it was easy to follow. We did take a photo of the map before we started so we had a sense of where we were.

On the walks there are lots of information pointers to read that gives you interesting information and some great ‘I Spy’ things for children to get involved with.

Part way around the walk we found the River Eye. It is one of the best paddling areas that we’ve been to as it was so clean and quiet. We were the only ones there so we set up our picnic blankets and enjoyed a picnic. We spent at least 2 hours there having fun with our pond dipping nets and pretending that there was a troll under the bridge. A couple of families passed by but it was very easy to keep a distance.

We even found a tiny frog by the river which the children loved.

Greystones is gently undulating and there are no steep sections. The walking trails are either on level paths or on grassy tracks and there are no stiles to cross. It was quite uneven under foot but we did see someone with a pushchair. There are no seats along the trails so take a picnic blanket with you.

We finished our walk and headed back to the Visitor Centre and Cafe as we’d promised the children (and us) an ice cream.

The children loved ‘Henry’ the tractor and could have played on him for hours. There’s also a pretend cow to milk.

If you’ve not been before then we definitely recommend a visit. Remember to take a picnic and some water shoes.

Entrance is FREE but there is a donation box in the main reception so please take some change and donate if you can.

Dogs are allowed but please keep them on a lead and clean up after them.

Here is a link to their website: Gloucester Wildlife Trust

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