Days Out Archives - Page 9 of 16

Recent days out

January 22, 2024 by Neil Turner

A model of an armoured elephant at the Royal Armouries museum in Leeds

Although it’s currently the bleak midwinter – and I mean bleak, with sub-zero (Celsius) temperatures last week and Storm Isha this week – we have managed a few days out. Some of these were in the first week of the year, as our eight-year-old didn’t go back to the school until the following week.

Here’s where we’ve been:

Manchester Science & Industry Museum

A photo of Stephen Hawking's wheelchair, currently on display at the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester

The Science and Industry Museum in Manchester is somewhere that we typically end up at least once a year. This time was mainly for the Food, Poo and You exhibition, which features content from the presenters of Operation Ouch (including Dr Chris, writer of Ultra-Processed People). It didn’t take much convincing our eight-year-old to go to an exhibition about poo, and it’s well presented. Just be aware that, whilst the rest of the museum is free, this is a paid-for exhibition and you’re advised to pre-book. My wife happened to be working that day and so I expect we’ll be going back before it finishes in June, after which it’ll probably go to the Science Museum in London.

Also there at the moment is Prof Stephen Hawking’s wheelchair. I was naturally more excited about this than our eight-year-old was.

What isn’t at the museum at the moment is, well, about three quarters of the museum. It’s just what’s available in the ‘New Warehouse’; a huge restoration programme means that the other buildings are closed. The Power Hall should be open again next year if all goes well.

Eureka

Considering how often I pass Eureka, and the fact that we have a young child, it’s perhaps surprising that it’s been almost seven years since my last visit. And like that time, it was partly due to some Tesco Clubcard vouchers expiring. The museum hasn’t changed much in that time; the main difference was that the car garage is now a community area with a bus and a smaller electric car exhibit.

It’s still a good museum for half a day, and at eight years old our child isn’t too old for it. There’s a new Eureka, focussing more on science for slightly older kids, in Wirral which we need to visit at some point.

Royal Armouries, Leeds

A disarmed AK-47 rifle that has been covered in sprinkles and Love Hearts sweets

The last time we went to the Royal Armouries was for Thought Bubble, back in 2016. Museums about war and armour aren’t really my thing, but our eight-year-old had read a library book about them recently and so it was an opportunity to see some of those things in real life.

The Reloaded exhibition is interesting, as it looked at guns as gifts and objects of desire. There were also a couple of commissioned art pieces, such as an AK-47 covered with sprinkles and Love Hearts. It’s always fun to see the elephant armour too.

We have a few more busy weekends coming up, so I doubt we’ll be going anywhere else for a few weeks.

Stockeld Park Summer Adventure

December 31, 2024August 7, 2018 by Neil Turner

A photo of an animatronic dragon at Stockeld Park

Last Monday, we went to Stockeld Park, near Wetherby. Stockeld Park is a privately-owned country house estate, but it opens for special spring, summer and Christmas ‘adventure’ events. The summer season started a couple of weeks ago, in line with summer holidays, and so I took our two-year-old along. We were joined by a friend and her almost four-year-old, so that we could take advantage of a family ticket.

This was actually my second visit to Stockeld Park. The last time I went was for the Christmas Adventure in 2009, with my extended family. Looking back, I seemingly didn’t blog about this. I had only just met Christine at the time; I was living in Bradford and she was in Blackpool. I’m guessing she was working that weekend as she didn’t join us. That 2009 trip was in the evening, whereas this time we went during the daytime.

The main attraction at Stockeld Park is the ‘Enchanted Forest’, a woodland walk, with various activities on the route. These include an animatronic dragon, a tree with various tiny doors (and doorbells which play a message from their ‘occupants’), and several themed slides and adventure playgrounds. It’s not a long walk, but if you stop off everywhere then it can take a couple of hours to get around.

In addition, there’s the obligatory café and shop, and an indoor bouncy castle. Outdoors, there’s a roller skating rink (this is replaced by an ice skating rink in winter) and a maze. For an extra fee, you can go on a boat on the lake, ride around the forest on a scooter (Nordic skis in winter) or play laser tag. So there’s plenty to do; we only did the enchanted forest and the indoor activities and this still took up most of the day.

On the gate tickets are quite expensive; only the under-2s are free, so expect to pay £52 for a family of four. Thankfully, we pre-booked; using the discount code ‘TRAIN’ that I had seen advertised, we got a family ticket for £40 for four people. You can also pre-book a picnic hamper; this came to £20 for four people. Again, this saves you money versus buying on the day, and we got a free balloon thrown in.

The Summer Adventure is open until the 2nd September; after that Stockeld Park closes until the week before Hallowe’en. We’ll probably go back for the Christmas Adventure; it’s open late and you get to see the enchanted forest illuminated. It’s great for kids aged two and up and two-year-old really enjoyed it.

Crich Tramway Village

December 31, 2024August 5, 2018 by Neil Turner

Back in May, on the way back from a wedding in Leicester, we dropped into Crich Tramway Village in Derbyshire. Crich is home to the National Tramway Museum, and has a large number of heritage trams from Britain and abroad that run up and down a mile long track.

At the lower end of the site is the village, with various heritage buildings that have been transplanted from elsewhere and re-assembled. There’s also the main tram sheds, for those trams that are still in working use, and a museum with some trams as static displays. The trams in the museum are arranged in date order, right from the first horse-drawn trams, to those that were built shortly before trams were withdrawn across almost all of the UK in the 1960s. Famously, Blackpool was a hold-out and kept its trams, and several examples are now here at Crich too. It was slightly weird seeing a tram that I’ve seen in service in Blackpool not too long ago, now in a museum.

Heading up the hill out of the village is a large park for kids to play in, and then a forest trail with various sculptures to look at. There’s even a wooden Mr Potato Head.

Entry to the site permits unlimited rides on the trams. The village has a variety of places to eat and drink; the pub on site was having a beer festival when we visited. And like many attractions, your entry fee gets you an annual pass, so that you can return any time within 12 months for free. Alas, it’s a little bit too far for a day trip for us so we may not be able to take advantage of a return visit unless we’re in the area for another reason.

Even if you’re not quite so interested in public transport as I am, it’s a good day out as there’s plenty to do. It helps if you choose a day with good weather, though, as it’s mostly outdoors.

Chester Zoo

December 29, 2024June 2, 2018 by Neil Turner

A couple of weeks ago, I took our two-year-old on a day out to Chester Zoo, whilst Christine was working. Christine and I have been before, most recently in 2012 when we stayed in Chester for the weekend.

We’ve been planning to go back for some time, but it’s an expensive day out for two adults. You can expect to pay over £20 per person, even when booked in advance. But as under-threes go free, so for one adult and a very young child it’s not so bad. Even with a ticket booked on the morning of the visit, I still saved a bit of money over the gate price.

From Sowerby Bridge, Chester Zoo is a little over an hour’s drive with clear roads. So, after dropping Christine off at work, we headed straight over and got there just before the official opening time of 10am. And, apart from a half hour lunch break, we didn’t leave until 4:45pm.

This is because Chester Zoo is huge. It claims to be England’s most visited zoo, and it can certainly absorb a lot of people. Which is good – the weather was glorious and so there were thousands of people visiting. I reckon there were a couple of hundred cars there already, even before 10am. And yet it never felt too busy – we had no trouble getting close enough to see the animals.

Chester Zoo’s new arrival

What I hadn’t realised was that, only three days before, a baby elephant had been born. The day we visited was only its second day out in public, which explained the crowds around the elephant enclosure.

There was also a baby rhino, which was just a few weeks old. I didn’t manage to get a good photo of it, unfortunately.

Since our last visit, Chester Zoo has extended somewhat, with a new ‘islands’ zone that focusses on animals from the islands of South East Asia. We got around most of it, but must’ve taken a wrong turn as we missed the tigers.

Towards the end, we went on the Monorail. This runs in a circuit around the site, although you can only travel point to point between two stations. I hadn’t been on it before, but it allows you to get another perspective of the animals. It’s £2.25 for a single trip or £4 for multiple trips, but as it was getting to the end of the day we just made a single trip.

Lizzie loves animals and really enjoyed herself. Unfortunately she wasn’t so keen on walking around or being in the pushchair, so I spent a lot of the day pushing an empty pushchair whilst carrying her. My back did not thank me the next day.

The rest of my photos are up on Flickr. Oddly, I never uploaded my photos from our 2012 visit.

Elsecar Heritage Centre

December 29, 2024May 13, 2018 by Neil Turner

Because I’m still woefully behind in writing up about our days out, today I’m going to talk about the Elsecar Heritage Centre, which we visited over 6 months ago. It’s in the village of Elsecar, near Barnsley in South Yorkshire, and is a part of the village that has been preserved to look much as it would in the 19th century.

The centre includes many ex-industrial buildings. However, rather than being a static museum, most of the buildings are now leased out, and now host an array of craft shops. The main building, in the photo, is now a soft-play gym, which I think our two-year-old very much appreciated.

Around the back of the site is the Elsecar Heritage Railway, which runs for a short distance using heritage trains. You can have a look at some of the locomotives and carriages in the yard, and there’s a station with services running at weekends.

We actually picked quite a good day to visit, as there was also a small birds of prey exhibition, and an indoor craft market in one of the larger buildings. We’d also been lucky with the weather, although we had a string of nice weekends last autumn.

That being said, without the extra events, I don’t think it would have been much worth coming to Elsecar on its own – at least, not for the distance we travelled. Whilst there are plenty of information boards around, and it’s nice to look at, it’s not really a full day out. If we were to come again, I think we would need to combine it with something else in the area, such as Cannon Hall Farm.

You can view the photos I took on Flickr, as usual.

Kilnsey Park Estate

December 29, 2024September 13, 2017 by Neil Turner

A couple of weeks ago, Christine, Lizzie and I went to Kilnsey Park Estate in North Yorkshire. I’d been many years before with my parents, as it has a well-known inland trout farm. Located in the Yorkshire Dales, in the shadow of Kilnsey Crag, it was a place we’d often stop off at on the way home from a day walking in the hills.

This time, we made a day of it. Arriving in time for lunch, we ate at the café, which, as you’d expect, offers mostly trout-based dishes. Lizzie had trout and chips, and I had a nice trout salad. The café is open to all and there’s a gift shop which sells local produce. And trout.

Explorer trail

It’s around £5 per adult to enter the rest of the site. We followed the ‘Explorer trail’, which starts at the bottom of the valley and heads up to Kilnsey spring. This provides the water for the trout farm, and drives two small hydroelectric generators. Combined with a water-based heat pump, Kilnsey Park is able to generate all of its own energy.

There’s a small farm area with some pygmy and Angora goats, pigs, sheep and various chickens. Kilnsey is also home to some red squirrels; once prevalent in the UK but now restricted to just a few remote places in the wild. The red squirrels are in a cage, which, combined with their quick movements, make them quite hard to take photos of.

Heading out into the fields, and there are pheasants and grouse. And some alpacas – Kilnsey Park has been home to alpacas for around 100 years, and used to supply wool to Salt’s Mill in Saltaire near Bradford.

Further up the hillside, there’s a small butterfly garden, which lived up to its name – there were plenty of butterflies there.

And trout

And yes, there were more trout. You get to see the various different pools across the site, from the nursery at the top down to the mature pools at the bottom. Bags of fish food are available to purchase and Lizzie really enjoyed feeding the fish. For an extra cost, you can hire a fishing rod to catch the trout, although you also have to pay £3 for every fish you catch. Processing facilities are provided should you wish to take your catches home to eat. Lizzie was a bit too young for this but it would be great to come back when she’s older and a bit more patient.

It was nice to visit Kilnsey again, and I was pleased that there was enough to do there to be able to spend a whole day. It’s not expensive, and seeing the red squirrels was a highlight for me. Lizzie enjoyed it as well – it’s a good place to take an adventurous toddler. And there are plenty of good photo opportunities – especially if the weather is nice.

Ponderosa Farm & Rural Therapeutic Centre

December 29, 2024August 10, 2017 by Neil Turner

Until recently, if someone had told me that there was a zoo in Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire, I wouldn’t have believed them. But there is, and it’s called Ponderosa Farm & Rural Therapeutic Centre.

It turns out that I’ve walked past it before. Back in 2009, I walked the Spen Valley Greenway, but the section south of Heckmondwike had been closed by Yorkshire Water. They were installing a new sewage pipeline, and had signposted a diversion. It just so turns out that this went straight past Ponderosa without me realising what it was.

We visited on Saturday. It’s not very big, but it’s also quite cheap – £5 for adults.

I’d been a little hesitant to visit having read the reviews on TripAdvisor. I’d probably rate it three out of five, and I agree with some of the points made in the negative reviews. Namely, it’s rather run-down in places, and the animals have smaller enclosures than in some newer zoos. The lemur enclosure in particular was full of nettles, and some of the vivariums holding the lizards didn’t look very sturdy.

It’s also not a great zoo for photographers. Most enclosures are behind mesh that obscures the animals, unless you get very close up to the bars. This isn’t so good when taking photos of animals that are right up to the bars themselves, like this Asian small-clawed otter. The Yorkshire Wildlife Park is much better for wildlife photography, but it is also much newer.

Ponderosa is, however, a very good place to bring kids. There are several playgrounds, and when I went (which was a warm August weekend afternoon) there was a bouncy castle. The far end of the site has a huge sandpit as well. Its outdoor nature means that it’s only really suitable for good weather, but we could have probably spent far longer here.

There were some animals there that I haven’t seen before – the tri-coloured squirrel, for example.

Ponderosa clearly needs investment, and underlines why I have issues with local authorities (who often lack the relevant expertise) issuing zoo licenses. In my mind, licenses should be issued by a central government agency, possibly attached to DEFRA, that also carries out inspections. It’s also why I don’t plan to visit South Lakes Zoo any time soon.

That being said, I think we will go back to Ponderosa. Our toddler had a good time, it’s not far from us, and it’s cheap. Plus, Christine hasn’t been yet.

Update (January 2025): Ponderosa is now known as Ponderosa Zoo, and is under new ownership. We’ve been back several times and it has improved significantly over the years.

Cannon Hall

February 14, 2026July 30, 2017 by Neil Turner

Yesterday, I wrote about Cannon Hall Farm. The farm gets its name from Cannon Hall, a country house on the same site, which is now open to the public as a museum.

Whereas the farm is privately-owned, Cannon Hall is now run by Barnsley Council as the home for its collections. Inside, you can find out about Moorcroft Pottery, which is still going today, along with the history of the hall. Several of the rooms have been decked out with their original Georgian furnishings.

Cannon Hall is a popular wedding venue, and this is reflected in its current special exhibition, Tales of the Wedding Dress. You can see the wedding dresses worn by several famous actresses in major films, such as those worn by Keira Knightly in Pride and Prejudice, or Jenna Coleman in Victoria. There are also several dresses made in Barnsley, and the stories of the brides who wore them. These range from the very recent to earlier twentieth century examples. This exhibition runs until the 3rd September, so you have just over a month to visit it.

Outside the hall are some extensive public gardens. We didn’t have time to look at these unfortunately, but what we could see looked nice. Although it’s in the Barnsley metropolitan district, the countryside in this area is actually very picturesque.

We didn’t plan to visit Cannon Hall but it was a nice brief diversion. If you’re visiting the farm next door, it may be worth setting aside up to an hour to visit the museum as well. Entry is free, although you will need to pay to park in the farm’s car park.

Cannon Hall Farm

December 29, 2024July 29, 2017 by Neil Turner

Following last month’s visit to Thornton Hall Farm, we took our toddler to Cannon Hall Farm a couple of weeks ago. It’s another farm park, but on a much bigger scale.

This was actually our second visit; our first was in September last year, when our toddler was 9 months old. I seem to remember them being asleep for a lot of it. This time, they were awake the whole time, and seemed to really enjoy themselves.

The main attractions are the barns where the farm animals live. The barns are designed for visitors, with raised viewing platforms at the back. The first four barns are for the pigs, several of which had piglets; then there are cow barns, and a rare breeds barn with a wide variety of animals. These include goats, donkeys, llamas, alpacas and rare breed pigs. To access these barns, you pass through a small animals shed, and there are regular rabbit and guinea pig handling sessions.

The farm is also home to some meerkats – not typical farm animals, but popular with visitors. Elsewhere, there’s a roundhouse with some more animals, and sheep and ferret racing events.

What makes the farm a great place for families is the soft play barn. It’s huge – one of the biggest I’ve seen, with an extensive area for the under 4s. There’s a large café attached, with some of the produce coming from the farm. You can sip Prosecco whilst your kids throw themselves down a giant slide, should you wish to. Bigger kids can also play in the outdoor play areas.

Childrens’ parties are big business for Cannon Hall Farm, and there are several bookable party rooms. If we lived more locally, we’d probably consider it for one of Lizzie’s birthdays.

Outside the main entrance (and therefore open to the public without paying for entry) is a restaurant called The Black Bull. Again, some of the food comes from the farm, and it’s good quality food at a reasonable price. There’s quite a big farm shop too, although it’s focused on the higher end of the market – you wouldn’t want to do your weekly shop here, unless you have a very high disposable income.

We all had a very good day out at Cannon Hall Farm. The entry price is reasonable, and although there is a £3 charge for parking, you get this back provided you spend £10 or more at one of the restaurants or farm shop on the site. It’s around 10 minutes drive off the M1, to the west of Barnsley. It’s worth watching out for special events, which take place regularly throughout the year.

Manchester Airport Runway Visitor Park

December 29, 2024July 14, 2017 by Neil Turner

Planespotters can be viewed in several ways. I think most people would bracket them with trainspotters and busspotters – eccentric, but harmless.

Greece, not so much – in 2001, a group of planespotters were arrested for spying. Ultimately, they were acquitted.

Manchester Airport, however, saw planespotting as a way of making money. So the airport’s Runway Visitor Park isn’t just a handy viewpoint for the runway – it’s a fully-fledged visitor attraction. We called on the way back from Quarry Bank Mill; I’d seen it signposted and figured it would be a good opportunity to snap a few shots of planes.

As you’d expect, there are three raised platforms to watch the planes from, one of which has a ramp. But there’s so much more; plenty of picnic tables, a café and bar, and a children’s funfair is open on summer weekends. Plus, there are several disused aircraft that you can book tours to see, including Concorde, and a shop that sells plenty of model planes.

One of the aircraft, an AVRO RJX (I’m not a plane geek, so this means nothing to me) is open all of the time; it’s a small aircraft that was used briefly for testing and only flew for a couple of years before being retired. The others are by guided tour only; I was only dropping in for a quick visit and so I didn’t book on for one this time. I’d definitely like to take a look around Concorde some time, as I never got to go on one when they were in service.

The park is surprisingly close to one of the taxiways, so it’s perfect for photography. A handful of people with big lens cameras were there, but I think most people had come to spend a sunny afternoon there. The food from the café looked rather expensive and uninspiring, but, as long as it’s a nice day, there’s nothing stopping you from bringing your own food and eating it outside. Just don’t feed the birds.

Entry to the site is free, although it costs money to park. It’s £5 for two hours, £10 for 2-4 hours, and £12 all day, making it relatively cheap for a car full of people. It’s served by a local bus service, and if you arrive by bus, on foot or by bike, there’s no parking charge. Be aware that on sunny days, like last Sunday, the car park may be full. And, being so close to Manchester Airport, security is high as you would expect – there lots of CCTV cameras everywhere.

I commend Manchester Airport for having such a good place to watch planes. I’d like to say our toddler enjoyed it too, but they were actually asleep the whole time. I expect we’ll be back – they’ll enjoy the funfair, and I might get the chance to look inside one of the bigger planes.