Chester has been out
on many cache hunts with us and has rather got to enjoy this
pastime, so much so that he now recognises our GPSr and gets
excited on seeing it. Recently he has been asking if we could help
him create some caches of his own, so of course we agreed as he is
not too good at this internet thingy (and if the truth be known he
is only really any good at three things, walkeeees, spotting
squirrels and burying bones, but don't tell him I told you that).
He said that he would like them to be located in some of his
favourite types of places that his doggie friends would like and
suggested that one in each of the Oxford City Parks would be a good
place. Foolishly we agreed to this before checking out how many
parks Oxford actually has, and to our surprise their is eighteen of
them. I hope you all enjoy this series of eighteen caches, and do
post some picies for Chester, especially if you have one of his
canine friends with you.
Cutteslowe
Park
Cutteslowe Park has
grown in stages. It was acquired by the City Council in 1935, with
a second part added in 1937. It is still growing today with the
recent acquisition of disused allotments. There is something to do
for everyone in Cutteslowe and once discovered you'll keep on
returning for more.
Feed the ducks on the ornamental pond and also look out for the
huge carp that lurk beneath the surface.
Take a ride on a steam train on the miniature railway line. Trains
are operated by the City of Oxford Society of Model Engineers on
every other Sunday during the summer months.
The park has a large well equipped children's play area, a paddling
pool and even an aviary with 7 species of birds, as well rabbits
and guinea pigs. For those interested in sporting activities, there
are tennis courts, football pitches and a basketball court. In the
summer months there is one cricket square, pitch and putt, putting,
pentanque, a public bowls green and croquet lawn. The measured Sri
Chinmoy Peace mile runs round around the perimeter of the park for
those wanting to test their stamina.
If you love flowers there is a 150 metre herbaceous flower bed,
with over 50 species of plants. A naturalised bulb area containing,
amongst others, snowdrops and crocus provide colour in the Spring.
The traditionally maintained rose beds contain eight species of
rose. There are also numerous flower beds containing over 7000
plants.
Woof what a park, lots
and lots of space to run about and plenty of places to explore. The
younger clan members enjoy this park too, what with its miniature
railway, the aviaries, play areas and the pond. Mind the smaller
clan members near the pond, wouldn't want them to fall in like I
did (dogs can't walk on water!), it's very wet and cold. Don't
forget to bring some bread to feed the ducks, and perhaps a picnic
if the weathers nice.
As this is such a nice
park with many features I decided that it should be a multi part so
that you don't miss some of its more interesting
features.
-
At the starting point
you will find the first clue (and a convenient car park), a
sign with a telephone number at its bottom right hand corner
- 0800 ABCD E55.
-
At
N51 47.E(B+C)A, W001 15.(C+D+E)(B-D)E
you will find the second clue (the smaller members of your clan
will love this bit), two numbers to the left FG, and a single
number to the right 4.
-
At
N51 47.(B-D)C(G-C), W001 15.BFD you
will find another sign with the third clue. What date was it
inaugurated? 29th May 198H.
-
At
N51 47.(C+D)HH, W001 15.(H-D)AB you
will find the fourth and final clue, a memorial to Brian Cooke. In
which year was he born 19JK.
-
You will find the cache
at N51 47.(J+D)(K-D)(D+E),
W001 15.BA(H-D).
Note - No bush whacking
or undergrowth thrashing is required to get to the cache. A careful
look at a map should get you to the cache with
ease.
Chester has hidden a
Bone'us cache full of special doggy treats for all those cacher's
who have managed to complete his COPQ series. To find this cache
you will need to collect the letters on the lids of all the COPQ
caches, and use them to work out the start location for
Chester's Bone'us. Be warned, you will have to go for Chester's
favourite type of walkieeees to complete it; a long one.
As my employer has decided that it would be a good idea to
move the whole organisation to Bristol, the Phillimore's (Mad H@ter
and Muddy Legs) will be moving on to pastures new and some fresh
caches. Unfortunately this will mean that it will become difficult
for us to maintain our Oxfordshire caches, so we will therefore be
gradually archiving the majority of them. We shall start our
program of collecting the caches and archiving them in the new
year, but as we have one or two caches out there this will not be a
five minute program! If you would particularly like to find this
cache before it is archived please get in touch and we will try and
hold off archiving it.