Trentham Gardens and Adventure Play - Barfuss Park (Barefoot Walk)

The Trentham Estate Barfuss Park

Experiencing nature, enjoying remedial care and just having fun are at the heart of the Trentham Barefoot Trail. Delight yourself and your family including the very young and old with the wonderful sensation of walking on timber, bark, mulch, pebbles, wood and mud. Feel the cool waters of the brook, the foot bath and the sun baked rocks, the softness of the grass and soil.

Take the challenge and have fun while you stimulate your feet on the 1000 meter route.

As you walk you will be improving your health and vitality using the historic principles of Sebastian Kneipp.

Take off your shoes and like our ancestors, ‘Walk Barefoot’. The Trentham Barefoot Park is the first such park in Britain and has proved to be as successful here as the original parks in Germany.

Why is walking barefoot good for you?

Well, firstly it’s fun for all the family, take off your shoes, store them in the lockers and be delighted by the response from adults and children.

However, walking barefoot has many positive medial benefits:

·   Regular use of the park or barefoot walking in general particularly on a variety of terrains can stimulate the cardiovascular system, regulate blood pressure and therefore improve circulation. In Germany they also believe that it can strengthen the body’s immune system.

·   Kneipp style water treading in our foot bath or pool in conjunction with a light exercise programme will improve the venous system.

·   The joy of the barefoot process and the fact you are in a beautiful natural and woodland setting have a beneficial effect on the mind helping relaxation and a sense of well being. Having fun with the family is always a joy.

There are many addition benefits of barefoot walking. It has been regarded as life enhancing and exercise of the body and mind. It also makes life more interesting due to the environment. Barefoot walking expands ones sense of touch helping us regain a connection with nature through our contact with the ground beneath out feet.                                                              

Sebastian Kneipp

The concept of barefoot walking was developed and used by Pastor Sebastian Kneipp. Sebastian was a priest who lived in the 1900’s who devoted his life to the well being of his parishioners in the Bavarian village of Stephansreid. Having reputedly cured himself of a serious disease he became famous and the welfare practices that he developed became equally famous throughout Germany. One traditional practice participated in by the majority of his parishioners was wading through water and walking on wet grass and other surfaces. It was felt to stimulate internal organs and help the body heal itself. Kneipps treatments became popular over the last hundred years and there have been additional developments with the formal Barfuss Parks and larger Kneipp Spas all over the German speaking World. The German Health Service recommends Kneipps remedies and treatments and even pays for those that are both preventative and curative.

Many people have remarked on the similarity of Kneipps treatments, particularly the benefits of barefoot walking, with reflexology. Barefoot walking is often regarded as ‘do it yourself’ reflexology. The benefits are regarded as similar to those gained with participating in barefoot walking; reflexology being much older as a concept but as we all know much more expensive than barefoot walking.

So now you know what it is, come along and have a try. Take off your shoes and socks, but them to one side and immerse yourselves in Trentham’s Barfuss Park.

The park is located within the Italian gardens and is an additional attraction within this area which also includes the Children’s Adventure Play area, Tea Rooms, Woodland Walks, Bird Hides and the famous Italian Gardens themselves.

Have fun, walk barefoot.

 

 

See the Barfuss walk video