A (dog) walk in the park - Coate Water Country Park

Coate Water Park

Coate Water Park is in the south-east of Swindon, its most recognisable feature is probably the diving board pictured above. Coate Water was originally a feeder reservoir for the Wilts and Berks canal but later became a pleasure park, hence the diving board. It's no longer in use (except for by birds) but has been given listed status.

There is still plenty do see and do there. As well as the 70 acre lake, there is a pitch and putt course, a model railway, a splash park and plenty of opportunities for bird watching and nature spotting. They have recently started to charge for parking, it costs £1 for two hours' parking and £2 for all day, which doesn't seem too bad. 

It's a perfect spot for a good walk, we normally do a route around the lake, but there are other paths you can take. The area obviously gets less busy the further away from the entrance you get, so Barney was able to have a good run off lead. 

As you can see, we visited on a fairly grey day, but it's a good spot to visit whatever time of year. Be prepared for it to be very busy in the summer, though.

Autumn leaves being shed rapidly

I can no longer deny that Barney needs a haircut!

I love Autumn

How long does the lake look?!

Good boy, Barney!

A (dog) walk in the park - Lydiard Park

Lydiard Park

To me Lydiard Park is a green oasis on the edge of Swindon. There is plenty to explore with the Grade I listed Lydiard House, the church and a walled garden as well as 260 acres of parkland. I have to be honest, we've been less frequent visitors since they started charging for parking, but it won't be long until Barney will be old enough to walk there from home. For now though, it costs £2 for two hours' parking and £4 for all day. Additional charges apply for visiting the house or walled garden, but you can explore the parkland for free. There are two cafes (the ice cream is amazing on a sunny day), toilets and Jungle Parc, a high wire course.

As well as introducing parking charges, they've also changed their rules relating to dogs. Between April and September, dogs need to be on leads in the busiest areas of the park. I went last week and lots of owners were making the most of being able to let their dogs run free. 

Although the Park is very busy in the summer, the parking areas are extended accordingly, so there is always somewhere to park. Our usual walk is around the lake and across the grass in front of the house. As it's such a large area, even if the car park is busy, you can walk freely without having to weave between other walkers. 

It's a great spot for a dog walk though and good to visit throughout the year, it looks good whatever the season.

Can I go now, please?

I remember the days when Barney was shorter than the grass

Barney couldn't have been less interested in the swans and cygnets

Look at them though!

Autumn has arrived

October round up

I'm not really sure where October went, but my overall feeling is that it was a really nice month. It felt hectic at the time but looking back at my diary I'm not sure what I was busy doing!!

The next level of puppy school has felt like a challenge. Barney is one of the youngest there, so it seems a bit harsh expecting him to behave as well as some dogs who are four times as old as him. He loves other dogs and people, so preventing him from being distracted has always been a big challenge. Not wanting to tempt fate, but we may be turning a corner, he behaved pretty well at puppy school at the weekend and we went for a walk at Coate Water yesterday, and apart from almost tripping over a runner who snuck up on us, he behaved pretty perfectly. Now we just need to master the sit and stay command, which is our real nemesis. 

What do you mean I won't sit and stay?!

We've done lots of mundane bits and pieces outside; having a yew tree removed, taking out a laurel bush, and getting wood delivered for the winter. We've also both been for flu jabs and used Andrew's latest hospital appointment as an excuse for a wander around a garden centre we've not visited before. 

Work is much calmer, it's nice to reach the end of the busy season. Our latest recruitment effort was successful and we've had one new member of staff join us. Always nice to get people in before the madness hits, gives them a chance to prepare for it!

We met up with a friend for a walk around Westonbirt Arboretum a couple of weekends ago. It's always a nice place to walk around, but more so at this time of year. It's so busy that they've had to close the car parks at times over the last couple of weekends, but we were lucky. The weather wasn't the best, but the trees were stunning nonetheless and Barney enjoyed a chance to sniff around in the leaves. 

The following day Barney and I headed over to Bristol for the RSPCA Big Walkies event. It's fair to say that I was having one of those days. I was running late, then got lost on the way, left my phone in the car (which I then stressed about, it didn't help that I'd dropped it in a lake the weekend before...) and the signage wasn't clear, so I ended up not doing the walk I'd planned. That said, Barney enjoyed the walk and it was good to get out and do something. He wasn't too impressed with his bandanna though.

Can we go now??

The following weekend my parents and brother visited us. Barney was very excited and spent most of the time getting underfoot or getting told off for jumping up. I'm just grateful that he's motivated by food, give him something to chew on and he'll generally settle down and give us all a break! It doesn't sound like it, but it was actually a less stressful day than I'd anticipated!

Andrew had a family meal the following day, I stayed at home with Barney so we went for a walk to enjoy the sun at Lydiard Park. It was a beautiful day, but Barney wasn't in the mood to sit patiently whilst I took photos so he features in very few of them. I'm hoping he'll warm to being a photographic subject as he gets older!!

We were so lucky with the weather

Now onto my progress against my plans for the year...

Read sixteen books
With the arrival of Autumn, I had a real craving for spending some time in front of the fire reading. I'd had The Hypnotist by Lars Kepler on my Kindle for ages and finally read it. I really enjoyed it as I love a bit of Scandanavian crime fiction. As soon as I finished it I ordered another book by the same author, hopefully that won't hang around unread for as long! 

Find one hundred geocaches
We're still at 534 finds, 46 for the year to date. Whoops.

Meet up with an old friend
The friend we visited Westonbirt with was someone I met through work about ten years ago. I think I'm getting to the age where I think I haven't known some people long until I start to count back the years!

Blog once a month
I had an amazing lava shell massage which I blogged about here and also wrote about one of our frequent dog walking locations, Mouldon Hill, which you can read here. 

Watch a new film once a month
We finished the Divergent series by watching Allegiant. As a series of films I really enjoyed them, perfect for when you want something which you can settle down and watch without worrying about the plot too much. 

 Take six day trips
No progress on this one, I think this may need to wait until next year, but you never know!


My diary for November is looking fairly free, puppy school allowing, I'm looking forward to seeing what it brings me. Secretly I'm hoping for comfort food and a few naps in front of the fire with a puppy on my lap...

A (dog) walk in the park - Mouldon Hill

The lake at Mouldon Hill Country Park

We've not lived in the area long and had a dog for an even shorter period, so I thought it might be useful to highlight some of our dog walking locations for anyone in a similar position, or anyone who is visiting Swindon with a four-legged friend.

Swindon has a number of country parks dotted around its edges, Mouldon Hill Country Park is the closest to where we live and so a fairly frequent haunt. It's easy to find and parking is free, but there are no facilities such as toilets or a cafe.

When Barney was little we used to just do a circuit around the lake, but there is plenty of other land to explore, tracks heading out through wooded areas, grassed areas and of course the walk up to the hill. Nowadays, we tend to walk three quarters of the way around the lake and then head up the hill so that Barney can have a good run off lead. The area around the lake is usually busy, with anglers, pedestrians and lots of other dogs. There are usually several loose dogs under varying levels of control of their owners, and sometimes dripping wet after a plunge in the lake chasing ducks, so we keep Barney on his lead initially until we know whether it's a good day for recall. 

There are some other paths around the park, including some leading down to the canal and the steam railway line which we have yet to try out. There is plenty to keep Barney sniffing around for some time yet.

The view across the fields from the top of the hill

Trying to resist the urge to go and meet the ducks

Lava shell massage - tried and tested

When Bloomin Beautiful invited me to try a lava shell massage in what turned out to be a very stressful week, I couldn't have been more delighted. I go to their salon in Swindon regularly for HD Brows and Shellac treatments but this was something new. They're always really friendly and do a great job, so I was really looking forward to it.

I've had massages before on spa days but they've always been aromatherapy massages to this was a new experience. When I arrived, the therapist showed me the shells and explained that they have a teabag-like package inside when means that they warm up by themselves when they're not being used. I was asked if there were any particular areas which she should focus on and left to get undressed. I stripped down to my pants and lay face down with my feet under a heated throw (so cosy!) and placed a towel over my back, well at least as well as I could.

When the therapist returned, she dimmed the lights and pulled the throw up to cover me and keep me warm. She uncovered a section of my body at a time, first my legs and feet, one at a time, then my back and upper arms. I then turned over so she could do the fronts of my legs and upper chest and arms and hands. As she worked on each area, she applied some massage oil and worked over each area using both the lava shells and her hands. When the stones started to cool, she'd set one aside to reheat, they're warm but not too hot, just nice and comforting really. The shape of the stones means that when the therapist is working a really gnarly area (like my knotted shoulders!) she can use the edge of the stone to get into the muscle better. I usually get a bit anxious about having a massage, but being covered by a warm throw and just having one area uncovered at a time was really comforting and preserved my modesty; I just tried to clear my mind and almost dropped off. When I was lying on my back I was given a wheat bag to cover my eyes which was really helpful as I have these silly translucent eyelids which always let light in, it meant I was able to relax fully.

After my hour's full body massage I was left alone firstly whilst the therapist brought me a glass of water and then afterwards to get dressed. The treatment had worked wonders, my stresses were forgotten and I felt completely relaxed from the warmth of the shells. I'd certainly recommend it as a pamper treat and will be back myself next time I fancy an hour's time out which will leave me feeling blissfully relaxed.

September round up

There goes another month, Autumn is well and truly here. It's been a really nice Summer but I'm ready for evenings in front of the fire and getting wrapped up in boots, scarves and jumpers. We celebrated the arrival of Autumn by heading out for a Sunday roast at the pub in our village. It was incredible, we really must do that more often.

We've been taking Barney to puppy school since he was about ten weeks old. We started with puppy playgroup, which was mainly socialisation, with a bit of obedience thrown in. After that we moved onto the next level which was the Kennel Club's Puppy Foundation course. It was based more on training (sitting, staying, walking on a lead etc.) and after four weeks, Barney passed. Hurrah! We've now moved onto the intermediate class at school which may lead to us achieving the bronze level, we'll see how that goes though!

I passed, Mum!

We've also started going on dog walks organised by the puppy school. I have to admit I was massively fed up after the first walk, Barney was jumping up at all the other dogs and was pulling so hard to get to them that he couldn't breathe and was making himself sick. Just a few weeks on (thanks in the main to bribery by sausage) he's much better. He still jumps all over the other dogs given half a chance, but he's not pulling as much and will focus on us rather than his four legged companions if we persuade him enough.

Walkies!

We try not to walk Barney too far whilst he's young, but we took a trip out to Barbury Castle and walked around the site of the Iron Age hill fort. It helped blow the cobwebs away and we'll be back in a few months to do a longer geocaching walk around the area. 

I'm feeling a little windswept

Andrew used to work at Aardman (animators, best known for Wallace and Gromit and their other claymation work) and as a result we were invited to their 40th birthday party. It was held at Colston Hall in Bristol and soon filled up with hundreds of employees, former employees and friends of Aardman. Tim Vine did a slot and there was an incredible live version of Sledgehammer accompanied by the video, animated all those years ago by Nick Park. It was really good to catch up with familiar faces and Aardman always put on a good party.

Happy birthday, Aardman

I've been having physio on my ankle over the last couple of months as it's never really recovered from me spraining it about nine years ago. The physio has been useful but they referred me to a podiatrist which has really helped. They've given me inserts to put into my shoes to make me walk with proper form and exercises to work the muscles which haven't been working together as they should. I can already feel the difference and I'm hoping it'll make walking (and running in due course) much less painful. Hurrah!

I'm still really busy at work, but starting to see light at the end of the tunnel. We've managed to find time for a few interviews to bolster the team. It's been a full on but we've found one really good candidate, hopefully we'll find another to bring on board soon. 

We're still doing jobs around the house, we had a wasps nest destroyed and have ordered a new cooker. Our current one is dying a ring at a time, so hopefully the replacement will arrive whilst it's still partially working. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Now onto my progress against my plans for the year...

Read sixteen books
I had a day off work in the middle of the month with a streaming cold and fancied curling up on the sofa with a book. I picked Raven Black by Ann Cleeves which had been on my Kindle for a few months. It felt a bit like relevant work reading as Shetland comes up a lot at work, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. It was just what I needed at the time, enough plot to keep me interested, but nothing complicated.

Find one hundred geocaches
We're still at 534 finds, 46 for the year to date. We normally do a lot when we're on holiday but as this year's holiday was peternity leave it's thrown our numbers out a bit. Hopefully we'll make up a little ground over the remainder of the year. 

Try three gym classes
No progress on this, with the physio and podiatrist I think this will need shelving until next year.

Meet up with an old friend
We saw a few old friends at the Aardman party which was really nice. I've also exchanged emails with a couple of other friends, hopefully we'll be able to coordinate diaries and catch up over the next few months.

Blog once a month
September was a bit of a bad month, with my only blog being my August catch up post. I've got a couple of blogs planned for this month, so hopefully I'll do better in October.

Watch a new film once a month
After watching Divergent last month, we watched Insurgent next which again I really enjoyed. We also watched Super 8, I wasn't sure what to make of it, I didn't even know it was sci fi when it started, but it was better than I expected once it got going. 

Take six day trips
No progress on this one, I think this may need to wait until next year, but you never know!


October has been busy so far (as you can tell by the fact I didn't get around to posting this in the first week of the month...) but I'm hoping things will settle down. I'm looking forward to a few movie nights in front of the fire and walks kicking fallen Autumnal leaves.

August round up

Another month gone and looking back at last month's round up, Barney has done a lot of growing over the last 31 days!

As Barney's got older, we've been able to get out and do more, both with and without him which has been really nice. At the start of the month he was looking really shaggy, with a particularly long fringe, so we thought it was time to take him for his first trip to the dog groomer. I thought he'd be awful, as he fidgets like crazy when we brush him at home, but he was fine. He wimpered a little bit, but the groomers were great, they're a mother and daughter team and seemed to just know intuitively when he needed an extra set of hands. He looked much smarter afterwards, and could see out from under his fringe. It didn't take him long to get back to his usual scruffy self though.

Look at his little legs!

We'd done four weeks at Janet's puppy playgroup, not far from where we live. It was good for socialising him with other puppies, with a bit of training and fun thrown in along the way. In the final week there was a musical chairs competition. As you'd guess they play music and when it stops the puppies have to sit and whoever doesn't sit, or gets up first is out. Astonishingly, Barney won. He was very proud of his winner's bandana, although I think it might have been designed for someone a little bigger!

Still sitting, even though the game had finished

That evening we went for a barbecue at a friends house, who kindly suggested we bring Barney. To be honest, I was expecting mayhem. They have two daughters, a five year old, Ffion, who is scared of dogs (including Barney) and a six month old. There was also another couple invited who hadn't met Barney. He was excited when he got there and wanted to meet everyone, but we once we settled him down with something to chew he was really well behaved. He sat on my knee at the end of the night for a sleep and Ffion even came over to stroke him. The other couple are looking at getting a dog and had ruled out smaller dogs as they thought they'd be over-excitable, but I think Barney may have changed their minds.
 
We took him over to see his brother the next day. The last time they'd met up they barely stopped play fighting for the hour they were together. This time they seemed a little calmer. We even managed to bribe them with treats so we could get a few photos of them together. It's great to see them together and compare and contrast their differences. Barney is definitely little brother.

Luckily they're both motivated by food!

The next weekend we had a couple of friends over who again hadn't met Barney before. Their daughter is nine months old, so we're certainly getting Barney used to children. It was a bit of a struggle containing him as he wanted to meet the visitors, but we didn't want him inadvertently causing any harm as he's still at that stage where everything he encounters goes into his mouth. We went for a walk to distract him, but he was still a bit of a handful. Anyway, it was nice to see them and I don't think they left thinking he was too much of a rabid hound!

We also got to have our first date night out since we've had him, we went out to a local restaurant for our wedding anniversary. The food was amazing, I couldn't finish my dessert so they gave it to me to take home with me. How could I say no?! We came home to a yawning puppy who seemed to have slept the evening away. We can definitely go out more often!

We knew that Pablo had lost his first teeth a few weeks ago and so kept an eye on Barney. He's now lost most of his front incisors (just one to go, I think), and is growing new teeny, perfect teeth. It's so fascinating!

Unfortunately the Dog Tooth Fairy doesn't pay out when he swallows them

We've also been for our first couple of geocaching walks with Barney. It's nice to have him with us when we're out but you can tell when he's had enough as he stops walking nicely and turns into a velociraptor. At least he's not yet eaten a log book!

Time for a water break

Aside from Barney, we've had lots of jobs done around the house. We finally got the septic tank fixed (hurrah!) and then emptied, had the chimney swept and the kitchen work surfaces polished. The house has been a bit of a money pit since we moved in, but we're trying to get on top of things without doing major projects until they really need to be done. We've also made a decision to get the boundary out of the front of the house done next year. That'll be our most costly investment, but hopefully it'll add kerb appeal and a little value when we come to sell. 

Now onto my progress against my plans for the year...

Read sixteen books
No progress on this, in fact I think I should have opted for six, not sixteen. I think I just need to start one on my Kindle and spend some time reading it at lunch time rather than trawling through Twitter or Googling whatever puppy issue is troubling me on any given day.

Find one hundred geocaches
We started the year on 488 finds and we're now at 534, which makes 46 for the year to date. I can't see that we'll make it to one hundred, but hopefully we'll keep doing the odd geocaching walk when we can. It's always a great opportunity to get out and explore a new area. 

Try three gym classes
No progress on this, I'm seeing a physio about my ankle and doing strenghtening and control exercises so I should be able to start more weight bearing exercise shortly. 

Meet up with an old friend
One of the friends we met up with this month I've probably known for over ten years, and we're both quite old, so perhaps that counts?!

Blog once a month
Tick! I wrote about everything we bought when we were getting Barney, so if you're ever in the same position, it may be worth a read. 

Watch a new film once a month
We saw Divergent on DVD this month, I really enjoyed it. Barney less so. There was a snarling German Shepherd near the beginning, and he doesn't really like people fighting. He ran away from the snarling dog and hid behing the sofa when the fighting started. Luckily, he seemed to think sitting on my lap would help, so we managed to watch the film without further interruption.

Take six day trips
No progress on this one, I think this may need to wait until next year, but you never know!


September has already got off to a flying start, so I'm looking forward to seeing what the rest of the month holds. I love September, cosy jumpers and the woodburner going at night. I'm just hoping for not too much rain, so we don't have a damp, steaming dog in front of the fire!