The National Trust invited us to visit the Ickworth Estate. Ickworth Estate is made up of over 1800 acres of parkland. It is also home to the Ickworth house, which comprises a Rotunda and east and west wings. There are lots of things to see and explore at Ickworth. You can now also hire bikes to explore the estate on two wheels. We were given the chance to see the estate in this way. This is our experience of riding bikes at Ickworth.
Hiring Bikes At Ickworth Estate
Ickworth’s cycle hire hub can be found in the main car park of the estate. They have bikes of all sizes and balance bikes available. There are also family and dog trailers to hire. Hire costs are £5.00 per bike for two hours and only £10 if you want to hire a bike for the full day. Balance bike hire will cost £3.00.
When we arrived at the cycle hire hub the children were given their bikes first. Little E could have had the option of riding in a trailer. Thankfully lockdown gave Darren the chance to teach both children how to ride bikes on two wheels. They were both given a children’s mountain bike to ride.
Darren and I were given Raleigh bikes. All we had to do was adjust our seat positions to suit our height. We were also given cycle helmets to use. We could have brought our own with us but they had some available to use. It didn’t take long for us to be able to start riding bikes at Ickworth.
I didn’t see any bikes with stabilizers or three-wheeled trikes available. As the cycle hub is quite a new addition to Ickworth Estate it might be worth enquiring before your visit if you need different requirements. There is also the option of bringing your own bikes to Ickworth.
Ickworth Estate Cycle Trails
There are two cycle trails to follow on the Ickworth Estate. The blue route is the River Linnet trail. This is the shorter of the two routes at 4.6 km. It follows a route around Albana Wood which is nearer the main house. The green route is the Monument trail. This is the longer route at 9 km. This route takes you through the woodland of the estate and the livestock fields.
Riding Bikes At Ickworth The Monument Trail
There was a lot of debate when we started our bike ride at Ickworth. Which route should we take? Darren thought it would be best to take the shorter route. We hadn’t ridden our bikes for a while and he was worried about pushing the children. I wanted to take the longer route as it was the route recommended by the team at the cycle hub. I thought it would be a great way to see more of the estate.
In the beginning, both trails followed the same route. We would make our decision on which route to follow when we got to the cattle grid gate. This was the point the routes went in different directions. To our surprise when we got to this point we were all feeling pretty good about our bike ride. The route had been flat so far and our energy levels were still high. So we chose the longer Monument trail to follow.
The Monument trail was a great route to follow. There was one uphill part of the trail where we had to walk our bikes up the hill. You could probably ride the bike up it but knowing how long the trail was we didn’t want to wear ourselves out. We rode our bikes through the different woods on the estate and through the fields that are home to sheep. We also passed the holiday cottages that you can rent on the estate. I spotted the Monument on our journey but the rest of the family missed it. You can see our journey on the Monument trail in the video below.
Would We Ride Bikes At Ickworth Estate Again?
We all had a great time riding bikes at Ickworth. I think the hire prices of the bikes were reasonable. If you have a trailer for your car you could always bring your own bikes with you. We didn’t bring any lunch with us as we were going to eat at the cafe. But I think if you pack a lunch you could make a day of riding around the estate. There were so many places to stop around the trail. Lots of lovely benches to sit on and views to look at. We really enjoyed our visit it was great to explore a National Trust property in a different way.
DISCLOSURE – We received entrance to Ickworth and the bike hire as a gift. This was for the purposes of this post and to create our YouTube video. We always share our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, and experiences.
