It has to be said that here at Supereight towers, we are very lucky to be situated so close to so many outdoor skateparks. Within a 3 mile radius we have Lady Bay, Radcliffe, Clifton, Keyworth, Colwick, Carlton and now a totally renewed skatepark in Ruddington at the Country Park.
The new skatepark is located on the site of the old one and the official address is Rushcliffe Country Park, Mere Way, Nottingham NG11 6JS
Rushcliffe county council worked with Canvas Skateparks and Skate Nottingham to put this beauty together, offering onsite experience for local skaters during the build including one of Supereight’s own sponsored riders Fin Shaw.
Skate Nottingham have been doing great things over the last few years and it really shows here at Ruddington. Many of the obstacles had input from locals, drawing inspiration from their “inspired by skate spots” program.
What is the skatepark like?
I don’t think I’ve ever taken so many pictures of obstacles in a skatepark – the number of obstacles and complexity of parts of the design mean there are endless approaches that can be taken at the park. Don’t come here expecting your run-of-the-mill half pipes and driveway ramps.
Some of the highlights are a couple of bigger curved and hipped transitions, loads of small (very small) transitions for learners (and the older, more fragile), manual pads with kinks, manual pads with curves, a Euro Gap, multi-storey car park style downhill free-standing curbs, STEEP flat banks, stairs and a partial pump track.
This skatepark is simultaneously great for beginners with small transitions and mellow roll-overs, whilst being suitably challenging for the more experienced amongst us. Nothing is straight forward and to maximise the use of the park you are going to need to be able to carve transitions as well as have your street skills dialled in. For example, to hit the Euro-gap you are going to need to carve fast around a bowled transition or drop in on the circular end of a transition. Then you need to get set up straight away for that flip. There is no way to push at the gap. Tricky. But. It will drive the locals to become masters of both street and transitions leading to more well-rounded skaters and more fun!
High build quality and well thought out
The concrete is super smooth without being deadly slippery – reverts work fine but your feet aren’t going to slide as you push as can happen in more intensely polished parks. The variation of colours in the concrete looks great and blends into the landscape nicely, which is important because the park is situated in one of the most picturesque and well-loved country parks in the county. Don’t want to annoy regular park users with an eyesore as it builds up resistance to skaters in the area in general. They’ve done a great job.
Well done Canvas Skateparks, Rushcliffe Council and Skate Nottingham – these guys are making skateboarding in South Nottinghamshire awesome!
Here are a few top tips
- Go early – not skateboarder early. I’m not talking midday. I’m talking 7 or 8am if you want to beat the hoards of children. As I mentioned before, the Country park is hugely popular, especially with young families and it has a massive play park within 100 yards of the skatepark.
- Go Late – after the little tikes have cleared off and their Dads have stop strolling across the park like they own it (we’ve all had these bozos to deal with). Don’t park in the carpark too late though as they do shut the gates and you’ll be in for a sleep over.
- Go during the week, in the day. Harder said than done but that it why it was super quiet when I went. Lovely. This tactic goes horribly wrong every school holiday which from my perspective there seem to be a lot of.
- There are Ice cream vans and food trucks there most of the summer and composting toilets to the left of the park so no need to wee all over the back of the ramps.
- The carpark on Mere lane is really the only place to park close to the skatepark and it is still a little trek so it may be worth wearing a spare pair of old shoes to get muddy on the way to the park.
- The Carpark is £1 – it goes directly to the general upkeep of the Country park and is totally worth it. People parking on the nearby streets have been getting parking tickets so watch out for that.
Most of all, go with an open mind. This is not your traditional park – Lady Bay and Radcliffe do that job already. So check it out, get creative and you will have an awesome time and if you slam, at least the ice cream truck is right there waiting for with a consolation prize!
