Lowther Castle & Gardens
Come for the playground. The Lost Castle is turrets, tunnels, drop slides and zip wires, built in the grounds of a vast roofless ruin near Penrith and billed as one of the UK's largest adventure playgrounds.
Aira Force and Gowbarrow Park
Penrith, Cumbria
Aira Force is the waterfall everybody photographs on the Ullswater side of the Lakes: sixty five feet of it dropping through a Victorian planted glade with stone bridges at the top and the bottom. From the main car park it is about a mile there and back, a real walk for a four year old but not an unreasonable one.
The National Trust run it properly. Tea room with indoor and outdoor seating doing drinks, snacks and ice cream, a small toilet block in the car park with an accessible cubicle and extra portaloos added in summer, a picnic area, and water taps for refilling bottles. Dogs are welcome but must stay on leads throughout because of the livestock.
The catch is terrain and parking. Much of the site is steep and rugged and the waterfall itself cannot be reached by wheelchair or pushchair. Parking is £7 for two hours at the main car park and £10 for the day, and members park free but still have to scan their card. Penrith is ten miles away, and the Stagecoach 508 from Penrith takes about half an hour if you would rather not drive it.
Know before you go
- Members still have to scan the membership card at the pay and display machine to get a ticket. Nothing on the dashboard is no defence.
- The path to the falls is not pushchair country. Anyone under three is going in a carrier.
- Two hours of parking is £7 and four hours is £8.50. If Gowbarrow Fell is even slightly tempting afterwards, buy the four straight away.
Worth knowing: Steep, rugged paths. The waterfall cannot be reached by pushchair or wheelchair, so small children need carrying.
Looking for more parks & outdoors near Penrith?
Also in Penrith
Penrith Castle Park
A free park opposite Penrith station with a genuine castle ruin in it, plus a play area, tennis, bowls and an obstacle golf course that costs a pound or two for juniors. Cafe and toilets on site.