Find your way around

The Park Map

Four lakes, three waymarked walks and a wartime airfield, all inside the boundary. Tap a marker to see what you are looking at.

Everything on this map is a walk, not a drive. The lakes sit within a few minutes of the lodges, the waymarked trails loop back to where they started, and the public footpaths and bridleways carry on out to Nassington, Yarwell, Apethorpe and Wansford if you want a longer day.

Illustrated map of Rockingham Forest Park showing the park boundary, the four lakes, the woodland sales, the waymarked walking and cycle trails, and the public footpaths and bridleways leading out to the surrounding villages.

On the map

Nine points, numbered as they are on the printed map. Choose a marker or a heading to read about it.

EPark entrance

The way in, off the Wansford road. Oak Lake sits directly opposite, so the first water you see is the one you pass on arrival.

1Hangar Base — the Glenn Miller Memorial

The site where a Callender Hamilton hangar once stood. This is the exact spot where Major Glenn Miller and his orchestra played their last airfield hangar concert, on 3rd October 1944. The Glenn Miller Memorial stands here.

The Glenn Miller Memorial

2Railway Ramble

This walk takes you through Great Morton Sale to the dismantled railway underneath the LNWR railway bridge.

Kings Cliffe station opened on 1st November 1879 and closed to passengers on 6th June 1966. On 3rd July 1968 it closed to goods as well, along with the track to Nassington station, where a private siding and the line to Yarwell Junction stayed in use for the iron ore and limestone quarry until 1971.

3LNWR railway bridge

Beside the public bridleway that runs to Apethorpe. The bridge was built by the London and North Western Railway as part of a short connecting line between Kings Cliffe and Wansford. It opened in 1879 and closed in 1968.

4Sessile Lake

Behind the lodge park and next to Fair Oak Sale. One of the two lakes open to anglers.

The sessile oak is a tall oak found in semi-natural woodland in the north and west of the UK. Its acorns are not like those of the English oak — they attach directly to the outer twigs. Its timber is used for barrels and casks, because it gives wine and spirits a particular flavour.

The lakes

5Acorn Lake

The longest lake in the park, east of the lodges.

An acorn is the nut of the oak. It usually holds a single seed, though some have been found with two. The nut sits in a leathery shell inside a cup-shaped cupule, and the older the tree, the more of them it produces.

The lakes

6Oak Lake

Opposite the entrance, dug in 1984, and the second of the two lakes open to anglers.

The oak belongs to the beech family and there are around 500 species still in existence. The English oak matures into a broad, spreading crown with sturdy branches beneath, and shortens with age in order to extend its life. It is the second most common tree in the UK and a national emblem.

The lakes

7North Fields Walk

Around the park, taking in Sessile Lake and open countryside, then round to Holm Lake past Great Byards Sale before looping back to your lodge.

Woodland trails

8South Fields Walk

Starts at the railway bridge and borders Little Morton Sale, passing Acorn Lake. If you want to leave the park and see the villages, it joins the public footpaths to Nassington, Yarwell and Wansford.

Woodland trails

9Holm Lake

On your left as you drive in to your lodge.

The holm oak arrived in Britain in the 1500s and is an evergreen broadleaf. Its acorns are more pointed than those of the English or sessile oak. Holm oaks are common along the coast, where they resist salt spray and make excellent windbreaks.

The lakes

Reading the map

Park boundary

Walking and cycle trailsCreated by the park, for guests

Public bridlewayWalkers, horses and cyclists

Public footpathWalkers only

BywayPublicly accessible track, too minor to be called a road

Road

Also on the park

Not everything has a number on the map. These are the other places worth walking to.

Take the map with you

The printed version has the full local area on it, including the routes out to Yarwell, Nassington and Bedford Purlieus nature reserve.

Download the printable map

The Park Map

Reading the map

Also on the park

The Command Post

Kings Cliffe Airfield Museum

Fairy and Fauna Trails

Play and dog parks

The lakes

Woodland trails

Take the map with you

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