Walton-on-the-naze is a nearby beach area that has a massive park that our children enjoy, so when I saw the Kite Festival happening at Naze Nature Discovery Centre, it felt like a good excuse to get beachside at the start of the summer holiday! Each year, the Naze Nature Discovery Centre hosts a kite festival, that allows many people to come and hang out at the centre, viewing kites that get lifted in a special kite zone and flying your own kites outside as well. There is a kite decorating course, however due to how busy our day was, we weren’t sure what time we were going to arrive for the kite festival so didn’t book it up. This activity is quite affordable, but I would recommend booking ahead and making sure you are there for your time slot!
Naze Nature Discovery Centre Kite Festival
We arrived towards the end of the Saturday, with two hours left of kite flying. The wind was still going when we arrived, giving a lot of gusts of wind to the kites. The Naze Nature Discovery Centre has a large field, which is where the kites are being flown. As we parked, Amelia and Robin were already excited by the kites they could see. Kai had just come back from a sleepover, and is a moody teenager, so seemed just happy to be outside and not needing to have a high amount of energy. We grabbed some drinks from the cafe on site (there was also a small coffee food truck by the kites too) and picked a spot on the grass.
The kites that were flying were fantastic. Amelia, Dann and I all loved the skeleton kite, that seemed to shimmy and dance their way up and down the sky. Robin quite liked the fire kite, which was a kite that did look like it had fire coming off of it. Kai’s favorite was a bird-looking kite that Robin was pretty convinced was actually just a bird hanging out with the kites, but it was in fact a kite. There were lots of other more classic kites, cube kites, and children’s kites being flown. In the middle of the area, they were trying to put up a huge whale kite, which we saw sort of hover near the ground, but the wind wasn’t stable enough to get it up in the air. That’s the thing when it comes to kite festivals – it’s all down to the wind! We did enjoy the suspense of watching the whale get closer to being up in the air. Once we felt we had our full of the kite festival, we wanted to climb to the top of Naze Tower.
Naze Tower Climb
By the Naze Nature Discovery Centre, there is Naze Tower. This tower is tall and thin, with very thin stairs on the way up. There is a fee for climbing the tower, though you can get to the first floor and hang out there if you want to eat at the cafe inside the tower. This cafe has a slightly different menu from the cafe inside the Naze Nature Discovery Centre, as it’s more limited. We didn’t want any food, so started our climb. Each set of stairs has a little level after them, maybe enough to hold three tables (the first floor has three tables for the cafe), but all along the walls are a bunch of themed art from independent artists. All of this art is purchasable, so you can really support the art you are seeing if you like it. We saw a ton of glass work, stamp printing, paintings, sculptures… themes of snacks, the ocean, robots, wildlife. There is such a good variety of art, it makes exploring each story very fun. When we went, there weren’t a ton of people walking up and down, so we took our time on each level.
At the very top of Naze Tower, there is a fantastic view of the ocean, fields and surrounding area, all from a great height. This tower was previously a lighthouse and one of the floors was actually a museum, that showcased lighthouses and the previous beacon. There are small displays of artifacts and fossils that have been found in the area, along with a visitors book that we all signed. It’s a lovely climb, that doesn’t feel too long, with plenty of breaks along the way. The way down, however, due to how thin the stairs were, was much more challenging! Walking down them took a lot of concentration. After our time in the tower, we went to our favorite park and the beach as well – making for a very fun and full evening.
You can check out our other Days Out to see what else we’ve been up too!
oh wow! The Naze Tower looks amazing, I love it! I would to check it out in person, that would be amazing. Thank you so much for the review.
I have never been or heard of her before. The Naze tower looks great and I bet it was amazing watching all he kites
That is an amazing spot! The tower is incredibly cool. It’s like a huge monolith!
That is one cool spot. I feel like a flame will be lit on the top of that tower any minute to alert the masses that Gondor needs help.
This is a fun day out! The Kite Festival at Naze Nature Discovery Centre is exciting with all the different kites in the sky. I loved reading about the colorful kites like the skeleton, fire, and bird ones.
The kite flying looks like it must have been fun to watch, I love that Skeleton one. Another fun day out x
It’s great that the Naze Tower is open to the public and that you are allowed to climb it. It’s awesome that they feature artwork from independent artists. I would love to grab at least one as a souvenir for the visit and as a support to the local artist’s community.
I love kite festival and enjoyed going to one as a kid. Hearing about the Naze Nature Discovery Centre for the first time, so thanks for introducing this place to me.
The Naze Tower looks amazing to visit especially you went during the kite festival, so so cool with the kites flying around. Cheers SiennyLovesDrawing
A kite festival would be nice to watch. It’s impossible to not be happy when the kites are flying.
I would loev to check out the Naze Nature Discovery Centre and it looks like it was the perfect spot for you and your lovely family! I enjoyed the pictures and what fun!