My tourism of local parkruns continues with a trip to Houghton Hall parkrun, which is a two and a half lap anti-clockwise course through the grounds of Houghton Hall Park in Dunstable. I found this course tough psychologically, due to having to pass the finish line twice before actually going into the finish funnel on the third occasion. Having said that it is a pretty and scenic parkrun, with a mix of open views and wooded sections running through a trail path in the woods. I enjoyed this parkrun and it is fairly fast and I'm sure good times are possible here, but I personally found it tough due to the two and a half lap nature of the course.
[I visited this course on 15th September 2018]
Update 3/11/2022 - There is a new course from 2020 onwards, which I have detailed in the Course section below
Difficulty
Maybe a 2 out of 5, there is a bit of work to do here in places, bit twisty and uneven in places, with a few inclines, nothing too difficult though.
The Old Course
The course is a mixture of footpaths, trail paths and a bit of grass and starts a short walk from the visitor centre. On the briefing when asked if there were any visitors we kept quiet as we felt we weren't really tourists when coming from Milton Keynes, but then someone said they were 'visiting' from Luton, well we were more tourists than they were! Anyway after the start you're on a decent surfaced trail path which bends round to the right before taking a sharpish left turn, then straight on into a wooded section, pretty soon you'll reach a marshal and a gate (can get a bit tight here if busy), left turn along a good path and slightly uphill until you reach another marshal and gate, left turn though the gate and fairly soon you'll see the finish position on your left. Run past the finish, and the path is now gently wavy left and right but generally straight until you reach the visitor centre. Pass the visitor section on your right before turning left and heading for another wooded section where the path becomes a trail, it's a bit twisty and turny in here, but you'll come to a sweeping left turn and then a sweeping right turn which takes you back out into the open, and then a right turn and back past the start position, you'll take another full lap of the above route, and then on the final time past the start don't forget that this time you need to stop at the finish line which is about halfway round the loop.
Course 2020 onwards
The new course is similar to the old course reversed but you only now do the wooded section on lap 2, and the finish is now at the start position rather than being halfway around the course... the changes are as follows... at the start you head East rather than West to start a clockwise lap of the course, you run a complete lap of the parameter of the park taking you all the way back to the start, as you start lap 2 you are directed left into the wooded section from the old course, and after the woods you complete the same course as lap 1 bringing you back to the start again, lap 3 is the same as lap 1 and the finish is now in the same place as the start. So the course is now 3 laps rather than the 2.5 laps of the old course.
Elevation
There are a few ups and downs here which are noticeable on the ground, there are no major hills but you will feel like you are going uphill in places, it's not a pancake, but it still fairly flat by all accounts. According to https://jegmar.com/stats-hq/fastest-races/parkrun/ the course has a total elevation of 66ft (or 20m) which places it 193rd flattest out of the 519th they have ranked.
Parking, Facilities & Coffee
Postcode for Satnav is LU5 5UZ, however be careful as this postcode gets you to an industrial estate round the corner from the park. You actually need to aim for the Houghton Hall Park Visitor Centre car park which is off the Park Road North road. Parking can be found at the visitor centre or on the High Street beside the shopping centre. Please do not park in Moore Crescent. The visitor centre hosts a café and a public toilets.
This is a pleasant parkrun through a country park, with open and wooded sections, a very enjoyable way to start a Saturday morning.
Link to Houghton Hall parkrun page:
There is also a video of the old route (not mine) on YouTube: