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.
Lowther Castle & Gardens
Penrith, Cumbria
Lowther is a genuine ruin, roofless and enormous, and the Lowther Castle and Gardens Trust has spent years turning the grounds around it into somewhere families actually want to spend a day.
The Lost Castle is the headline: a timber adventure playground of turrets, tunnels, drop slides and zip wires that the estate calls one of the largest in the country, and which does not disappoint on scale. Budget three hours for it. You will see very little of the gardens, and nobody in the party will mind.
Entry is sixteen pounds an adult and ten for a child aged 3 to 15, with under-3s and carers free, and a family ticket at forty-five pounds that works either as two adults with up to three children or one adult with up to four. Parking is a further two pounds a day through RingGo. The homepage also advertises a reduced summer rate of fourteen, 8.75 and forty-two under the VAT scheme, so it is worth checking which is live when you go.
Beyond the playground there are the gardens, the Story of Lowther exhibition, and walking and cycling trails across the estate. The courtyard cafe does table service and takeaway from 10am daily, with an extra outdoor cafe at weekends in the school holidays.
It opens every day except Christmas Day, 10am to 5pm in summer and 10am to 4pm in winter, last entry an hour before closing, and building work is ongoing so some things move around. Dogs are welcome on leads across the estate but banned from the playground. Somebody is going to be holding the lead in the car park, and it will not be the person who wanted to.
What it costs: Adult £16.00, child aged 3 to 15 £10.00, under-3s free, carers free. Family ticket £45.00 for either two adults and up to three children or one adult and up to four children. Parking £2.00 a day plus a 50p RingGo booking fee, free for annual passholders. The homepage separately advertises reduced summer rates under the VAT scheme of £14 adult, £8.75 child and £42 family, so check which applies on the day you go.
Know before you go
- The whole day hangs on the Lost Castle, so give it three hours. Under-3s go free, and so do carers.
- Parking is a separate two pounds a day through RingGo, plus a 50p booking fee. Sort it on arrival.
- Dogs are welcome on leads across the estate but banned from the playground, which is awkward if you brought one and there is only one adult.
- The homepage advertises a reduced summer rate of fourteen, 8.75 and forty-two under the VAT scheme alongside the standard 16, 10 and 45. Check which is live on the day you book.
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