Tamworth Castle Grounds parkrun - event 114

On the 4th April 2026 I ran the Tamworth Castle Grounds parkrun which was the 114th event held at the venue, my 283rd parkrun and 196th different course I'd attended.

Being able to combine football with parkrun has been a real blessing and has made supporting the Gills more enjoyable as well as broaden the pool of available parkrun events for me to visit. This week with Easter and games being on Good Friday and Bank Holiday Monday I hadn't anticipated a parkrun/football double.

Originally the plan was to visit Walsall away in a day, drive up watch the game and come home again as is the typical way. But talking with Steph I suggested we could make a weekend of it. Driving up and down the M1 this season and seeing signs for the National Space Museum had whetted the appetite and I really wanted to visit.

So I formed a plan that meant we'd travel up to Walsall the usual way, watch the game and stay overnight somewhere either close to the National Space centre or somewhere in between.

Having done a little bit of research at all of the available parkrun options I settled upon Tamworth. The parkrun within the Castle grounds was a stone throw from a Premier Inn, meaning I could easily walk there in the morning. Plus it wasn't too far from Walsall after the game and there were a healthy amount of evening food options for us as a family. The National Space centre was only a 45 minute drive the following morning, so perfectly located.

Oliver being 19 now and too cool for nights away with his family stayed at home. Work commitments meant he couldn't travel with us anyways but it also helped us out as we could fit into a family room.

The game itself, despite being memorable for picking up an away point after a series of painful consecutive draws will be remembered more for Stephanie's enthusiasm for wine more than anything else. We enjoyed some pre-match entertainment in the fan zone outside the ground which I hadn't visited before. At halftime Steph went to get herself a drink and five minutes into the second half she still wasn't back in her seat. Rowan Hale scored a fine equaliser in the 51st minute, which she missed, but came pacing out of the vomitory with all of the others who had also enjoyed the bar as opposed to the resumption of the second half.

After the match we stopped off at the hotel, dropped out bags and walked across Tamworth Castle Grounds into the town centre for further food and drink. After the obligatory drink in Spoons we made our way to the Tamworth Arms where we had a reservation for the evening.

Gravesend lacks some decent food options and with the local debate around whether McDonalds should take over the long vacant Woodlands building - home to many years of Beefeater. They'd do well to take a leaf out of the Tamworth Arms book instead.

A modern, well decorated interior with a two page food menu. On one side was 'West', with food ranging from Burgers, Fish and Chips and standard pub fare. The opposite side was titled "East" and contained a range of curries and Indian style food. 

Not only were the food choices great for us as a family, but the food was exceptional quality when it arrived. Both Hayden and Phoebe tried something new, and really enjoyed it. Whilst my Lamb Balti was probably the nicest curry I'd had in a long time.

We wobbled a rather worse for wear Stephanie back to the Premier Inn afterwards and I set my alarm clock for the morning.

Hayden has recently adopted an obsession for scootering. So like our trip earlier this season to Barrow which was dotted with stops at skateparks we was able to accommodate Hayden alongside Tamworth Castle Gardens parkrun.

Next to the start/finish straight is an all sports court, where two guys were playing football tennis. Next to that was a rather large but non-intimidating skatepark. I left Hayden there to his own devices whilst I took part in parkrun. I could see him as I ran around part of the course and could call him over to head back at the finish.

Initially I wondered just how Tamworth Castle Grounds was able to fit in a 5k parkrun event as it didn't look big enough. But a well designed course that not only covers the grounds of the castle, but takes in some of the public footpaths that join parts of Tamworth all together.

From the start, which is taken on a wide central avenue, lined with trees and views of the castle up ahead. Participants head towards the castle where they take a right upon reaching the River Anker. The course heads out towards the nearby snowdome alongside the river and dips beneath a couple of road bridges before hitting a U-turn and coming back into the park. 

There is a other loop around a small field which rises upwards through some woods. The field had a fairground on it, which we were sadly not able to enjoy. It ran from 1pm to 6pm and we wasn't in town at those times. 

Out of the woods the path ran along the opposite side of the skatepark and allsport courts to the start. I caught Hayden by surprise as I ran by with a big "Hello Hayden!". 

Participants then run back to the river and along to the start up the wide avenue of trees in the opposite direction to the start where it loops around a smaller, more ornamental part of the gardens back around to the river path bringing you back out again at the bottom of the start/finish straight.

From here it is a case of running the lap again for the second time and the finish is on the top left of the avenue of trees. I'm led to understand that this was a temporary arrangement with the finish funnel normally on the right hand side. But an ester event making use of the grounds and building to the right meant that parkrun had to make a temporary arrangement.

I finished in 202nd place out of a field of 356 participants in a time of 31:25.

Once we'd wrapped up our buffet breakfast at the nearby Premier Inn we head over to the National Space Centre in Leicester.

We were on a little bit of a time limit as we needed to be back home in time to attend Phoebe's boyfriends Mum's.40th birthday party. We hadn't quite gotten that information when we booked everything, but ultimately managed to make it work

The National Space Centre was a great afternoon. It was far, far busier than I anticipated, no doubt partly due to the Artemis launch which took place a few days prior. But what a well put together, educational sn interactive place the National Space Centre is. It was well worth the visit and all of the other stuff we did around the edges just to make it there.