Return to Mote Park

We first visited Mote Park, in Maidstone, last year to meet up with my brother and his family; today we returned to meet a friend and former colleague of P who he had not seen since we moved south in 2013. It's a large, green and leafy park on the edge of Maidstone, its huge lake home to swans, Canada geese, ducks and coots, and has winding paths, many beautiful specimen trees and plenty of benches and picnic tables. It's a popular park and was busy on a Sunday morning, with various organised groups participating in charity walks and runs. We found a relatively quiet table at which to munch the savoury scones and cinnamon shortbread P had baked early in the morning; then J and I went for a wander, leaving P and A to enjoy a long catch-up of largely work-related news. The park is quite accessible for us, with surfaced paths, and I was pleased to see fishing spots reserved for disabled anglers, who could wheel right to the water's edge, and a large, high backed swing suitable for older children needing support to sit safely, as well as the huge advantage, for us, of a Changing Place toilet with a hoist. We explored some of the quieter areas away from the lake, and unexpectedly found a miniature steam railway, with real little engines pulling a narrow seat which riders could sit astride. It was fun to watch for a while - J had never see one before - and is my extra. We were lucky to have bright and reasonably warm weather, and although we didn't walk far or fast, I was pleased that my leg coped fairly well and hoped this indicated some level of recovery.