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.
Penrith Castle Park
Penrith, Cumbria
Penrith Castle Park is directly opposite the railway station, which makes it one of the few genuinely useful town parks in Cumbria if you have arrived without a car. The castle in the middle is real: a fourteenth century addition to an older pele tower, ruined, open and free to walk into.
Around it the council run a children's play area with toddler and junior equipment, tennis courts, a bowling green, a bandstand and a putting and obstacle golf course, plus a cafe and toilets. The prices read like a misprint. Two pounds an hour for the obstacle golf, one to two pounds for juniors, £2.60 a head for bowls. Cash only, at a games hut that opens 10am to 7pm between April and September.
Outside that window the tennis courts still work all year, 7am to 10pm, and the park gates never shut at all. Two war memorials stand in the grounds, the 1923 War Memorial Gateway and the Black Angel for the Boer War dead, which is a five minute conversation with an eight year old and not a history lesson.
What it costs: The park is free and the gates are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Paid extras are cash only at the games hut, open 10am to 7pm April to September: putting and obstacle golf £2 an hour with juniors £1 to £2, bowls £2.60 a person, tennis £6 an hour plus £2 for floodlights. Obstacle golf, putting and bowls run April to September only. Tennis courts are open all year, 7am to 10pm. Parking is on Ullswater Road near the War Memorial gateway.
Know before you go
- Take cash. The games hut does not take cards, and that is where the obstacle golf, putting and bowls money goes.
- Obstacle golf, putting and bowls are April to September only. Turn up in November and you have a play area, a castle and a bandstand, which is still a decent hour.
- Disabled access is from the Ullswater Road entrance, which is also where the parking is. Dogs are banned from the playground itself.
Seasonal: Obstacle golf and putting April to September. Check before travelling.
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