Family friendly parks in and around Leeds

Written by Carol Ferndale

Despite Leeds being a major city with all that you would expect from an urban environment, you are never short of pleasant green spaces either, where you and your family can get active, enjoy gardens, or simply roam wild and get in touch with nature. There are large parks, small community parks, playgrounds, skate parks, formal gardens and woodland areas, so here are some good ones to visit.

Farnley Hall Park

Farnley Hall Park is four miles west of the centre, and is mostly open grassland which is much loved by children. The main feature of the park is Farnley Hall, and there is also a Ha Ha. There is also a pond with ducks which the kids will love to feed, a new children’s play area, formal gardens with flowerbeds, cricket wickets and woods to explore.

Golden Acre Park

Six miles north-west of the centre of Leeds, at Bramhope on the A660, is Golden Acre Park with gardens and mature woodland around a beautiful lake. As an extra bonus, next to the park you have Breary Marsh Nature Reserve, and both places are perfect for teaching your young ones about wildlife and conservation. Here you will find deer, fox, rabbits and squirrels. Around the lake you will see elegant swans, and also grebes, geese, heron and various species of duck.

Horsforth Hall Park

Horsforth Hall Park is a large community park about six miles north-west of Leeds city centre, with a Japanese Garden, an integrated play project where disabled and able bodied children under the age of eight can play together, plus a playground for older children with a fantastic climbing feature like a spider’s web. There is also a skatepark that is very popular.

Middleton Park

Four miles south of the city centre is Middleton Park with ancient woodlands dating back to at least 1600, with lovely old oak trees, streams, ponds, and all kinds of flora and fauna. There are tennis courts, a bowling green, a public golf course and nearby is the famous Middleton Railway which the children will also enjoy.

Kirkstall Abbey

Founded in 1152, Kirkstall Abbey is one of Britain’s best preserved abbeys, and you can still explore large parts of it free of charge. The visitor centre has exhibitions that give you the history of the abbey, covering all aspects of life there in its heyday – children will no doubt be interested to learn about the monks’ antiquated toilet system!

Kirkstall Abbey is only a quarter of a mile from Kirkstall Retail Park, so you can always round off the day out with pizza or a trip to the cinema.

Roundhay Park

One of the finest parks around Leeds has to be Roundhay Park with its superb expanses of parkland, gardens, lakes, and woodlands, as well as the thrilling Tropical World, which attracts thousands of visitors every year. Despite being only three miles north of the city centre, the park is teeming with wildlife, including foxes, roe deer, moles, voles, rabbits and grey squirrels.

If your family is into birdwatching then here you will have a great time spotting woodpeckers, warblers, great-crested grebes, and other wild birds. Add to all this a cool skateboard park, bowling greens, a canoe club, tennis courts, football and cricket pitches and a grass cycling track, and you have one fantastic family day out.

Otley Chevin Forest Park

About ten miles from Leeds, and with free access, is Otley Chevin Forest Park with magnificent sloped woodlands offering some terrific views of the market town of Otley and the Wharfe Valley. Children will love exploring the slopes and paths of this huge park which is dominated by huge rock formations that rise to a height of 280m above sea level.

Orienteering and geocaching courses are organised in the park and these make great fun activities for children. If your children are interested in wildlife then they could join Chevin Wildlife WATCH Group, which is a fun environmental group for children aged 8-13.

Temple Newsam Estate

If you like formal gardens and old stately homes then take a look at Temple Newsam and its huge estate of gardens and woodland. There are colourful rhododendrons, scented roses and a wide variety of plants and flowers. Around these expansive grounds there are a number of trails making it the perfect place for family walks. Temple Newsam even has its very own farm with cattle, sheep, pigs, goat, chickens, ducks, and an old Georgian dovecote.

So if you need a break from city life and need to get close to nature, there is plenty of opportunity to do so around Leeds.

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