days out holidays parenting Wiltshire

Barton Farm Country Park

Just to prove that we don’t sit indoors and spend all our time crafting a few weeks ago we spent the morning at Barton Farm Country Park near the pretty town of Bradford-on-Avon. Every time we visit we find something new and this time was no exception.

When we arrived we headed straight for the ancient tithe barn. The weather was threatening to rain and we knew we could hide away inside if necessary. It’s a spectacular 14th century monastic stone barn, 51 metres long, with an amazing timber cruck roof. The tithe barn is part of a complex of old farm buildings, some of then now contain lovely vintage shops, which I enjoy looking around.

Bradford-on-Avon Tithe Barn

The barn is next to the River Avon and the Kennet and Avon Canal and just on the outskirts of Bradford-on-Avon which is also worth a visit. There’s a lovely play area next to the river which we have visited before. This time we explored the area next to the Kennet and Avon Canal where we discovered a special canal boat cum sweet shop. The children were pretty happy to discover somewhere to spend their pocket money!

Kennet and Avon Canal sweetie boat

Then it was on to another park by the canal. The rain was just beginning to start so we had the place to ourselves. The children didn’t care about the weather though and loved the slide which went down the side of the hill.

Bradford-on-Avon Tithe Barn play area

It’s always lovely to find a place with something for everyone. There’s history and vintage shops for me, the Tithebarn Workshops and a traditional English Tearoom for my husband, and the parks and open spaces for the children to run around. It’s a great place to spend an hour or two.

Save

9 Comments

  • Reply
    Fashion and Style Police
    October 2, 2016 at 10:05 am

    I love a family day out like this. I can see the kids had fun. Nice.

  • Reply
    Nayna Kanabar
    October 2, 2016 at 10:15 am

    What a lovely place to visit.It looks great. Great for a family day out.

  • Reply
    Aly
    October 2, 2016 at 11:55 am

    Bradford-on-Avon is beautiful but we’ve never ventured of the town.We love walking along canals (our town is restoring theirs), as they are very peaceful places to visit.

  • Reply
    David Mellor
    October 2, 2016 at 6:41 pm

    It always amazes me that building this old still look so beautiful. The canal barge sweet shop looks amazing – I’ve never come across anything like that before!
    Potty Adventures
    #countrykids

  • Reply
    Coombe Mill
    October 3, 2016 at 2:11 pm

    This sounds like the perfect place for a family pit stop, you all look like you loved exploring the Tithe Barn and the area around it. That sweet shop looks so quaint, I bet the kids spent ages deciding which sweets they were going to part with their hard earned pocket money for. That slide looks fab too, I can see why the kids didn’t mind fending off a few raindrops for a while burning off their energy in the park!

    Thanks for linking up with me on #CountryKids.

  • Reply
    Cassandra Mayers
    October 3, 2016 at 3:30 pm

    Looks great! Ive never seen a barge sweet shop before 🙂 How cool! #CountryKids

  • Reply
    chocolateandwineandillbefine
    October 3, 2016 at 6:20 pm

    Aww what a lovely day out! I love it when you go somewhere that has something for the whole family, The sweet shop on the boat would be perfect for my husband (what a good idea?)! And the slide down the hill looks like so much fun! #CountryKids

  • Reply
    Karen (@karenjwhitlock)
    October 6, 2016 at 5:42 pm

    Sounds like a great place for a lovely day out #countrykids

  • Reply
    9 places to visit around Bradford-on-Avon with kids - the-gingerbread-house.co.uk
    May 26, 2018 at 9:44 pm

    […] rowing, fishing, nature study or just relaxing with a picnic by the River Avon. There’s a lovely play park for kids, as well as some craft and tea […]

  • Leave a Reply