Harrold Odell Country Park — Attraction in England

This is a poorly managed park. I used to be the resident chainsaw wood carver for a few years but my place there was made untenable by the current Head Ranger. Over the years he has abused his position to vindictively make it impossible for me to carve there. The numerous examples include the destruction of my valuable elm claiming that he had ‘mistaken’ it for scrap willow. He confiscated my post on several occasions and refused to allow the wood off-cuts I donated to be sold for Park donations. He took it upon himself to give away 42 sacks (provided by me and time spent filling them) of my wood off-cuts to customers on his rounds a week before Christmas 2012. This was to make sure they couldn’t be sold for the benefit of the Park. I’m sure his customers were very generous with Christmas tips that year.

He threatened me that he was going to re-locate his bee hives next to me and so I should start to wear protective clothing. (Does anyone know how I was supposed to carve wearing a bee suit?) The inevitable happened and he entered the hive site (fully suited of course with a vulnerable adult volunteer in tow) and disturbed the bees by presumably knocking the hives violently enough for them to swarm angrily for over an hour! This happened as a large group of local schoolchildren were walking away from my site where I had been carving. With the sticky sap wood exposed I became a target and was stung 5 times. (One of the bee stings in my scalp is still there). He drove away from the site pretty sharply having shouted at the volunteer to, ‘Get out!’ On his return later the bees were still swarming and attacking me and he was able to smirk and say, ‘Well I warned you there would be bees here’. No first aid was offered. In the whitewash inquiry that followed he said he ‘accidently’ knocked a feeding bottle in a hive lid. He also told the inquiry that he had been stung 32 times! Really? - Wearing a bee suit? Gosh.

Over the last August Bank Holiday my container was broken into. Approximately £3000 worth of my tools was stolen. Not only did the Head Ranger offer no help or assistance, but he also made it impossible for the police to see the CCTV footage by ‘accidently’ deleting the tapes that would have shown him handling stolen goods. – My cart that the thieves used to haul all my tools to the car park was stacked neatly beside the Park wheelbarrows the next day. Tidy thieves? – I think not.

Other folk have complained of this man speeding around on the jeep and tractor ‘like he owns the place’. One man told me he had been shouted at because his dog was ‘doing a wee’. There are many complaints of over cutting of the trees – including one from a chainsaw instructor who said no health & safety measures were in place on one particular occasion. Talking of health & safety he has lit fires beside the road several times on busy weekend days when the road is lined with cars and visitors and thick acrid smoke drifts across the road full of parents and children. I witnessed a near miss.

The man is spiteful and inept. He doesn't own the Park but is merely in ineffective council employee. He plays a lot of computer games in the office. If the Park looks nice it is down to the hard work of the volunteers. My carvings are all that remain of my time there. He finally got my licence revoked and I still haven’t been told why. Enjoy your visit but know the human cost that...

Bring back Tea-Zels I have been quite a few times as I walk my dogs there , Even though all I order is a Tea & Maybe a Baguette the service has been ever so slow & the quality is not what it was .The place has been nowhere near as busy as it used to be !! since the take-over & on quite a few occasions my first choice has been unavailable . I have seen several groups get up & leave as orders have been Mislaid or forgotten . They keep saying that they are short-staffed which never previously seemed to be an issue but to be fair I think the prices are generally a little lower than when it was Tea-Zels but from talking to many people the quality of the cakes , coffee & other food has dropped somewhat. The Manageress is Local from Harrold but unlike before it's not her business so is limited in what she can & can't control . Not a patch on what it used to be which is a shame . The Borough council have done the local community a huge dis-service by allowing this catering company to take=over & ruin what was an exceptional...

Firstly there's loads of spaces. There's an over flow car park too. I used the postcode MK43 7DS. I used this in my phone which is up to date, and it says the entrance is the other side of the road, which it isn't.. so look out for the small " country park " sign. The car park is free, but you can donate £1 if you'd like.

It's not a massive place, but you can do many other walks from here too around the ouse valley way. Dogs welcome. Children welcome. Mother-in-laws welcome. Dog bins provided. Dog on lead and off lead areas. Toilets available. Cafe available. Picnic benches available. Sitting benches around the lake. Small children's play area available. Paths all the way around the main lake. Suitable for normal footwear and prams. There's even a small ramp if you feel like bringing your skateboard... !!

It does get fairly busy at the weekends, so get there early if you'd like some peace and quiet. saying that, it's not really big enough for an all day event, and you can walk around it in 40 minutes, and thats at a...