Halloween at Brockhole Lake District Visitor Centre

We went to Brockhole today for a family lunch and enjoyed a taste of their Halloween experience. Its the first year they have gone to town like this and it was pretty amazing. We didn't buy tickets as we had a 3 year old with us but got a chance to see what we were missing out on:

Even if you didn't buy a ticket you could see the effort that had gone into the event from sculpture:

#CountryKids Swim Safe at Brockhole

Today we headed to Brockhole for my children's Swim Safe session. These sessions are run jointly with the RNLI and the Amateur Swimming Association About Swim Safe. Living in a county with lots of open water I was very keen on helping my children learn how to stay safe - my daughter has twice got too cold in the water and needed rescuing so it was time to teach them to be safer.

On arrival they were kitted out in full wet suits, bright tops and swimming caps to keep them visible in the water:

An RNLI lifeguard ran them through the 5 main safety rules:

Then some ASA instructors ran through the things that the children would be doing in the water before leading them down to the lake:

#CountryKids at Brockhole Lake District Visitor Centre

The last big activity we did with my family whilst they were up here was to go to Brockhole as it combines fun for children and interesting things for grown ups. With there being a surfeit of adults I even managed to get a run to the site and around it a few times:

And no I wasn't running on the water I ran down the jetty:

Meanwhile the children had been showing everyone around the park and walking the dog. I had spotted that there was a free cycle training event but could only persuade my daughter to give it a go:

#CountryKids at Brockhole Lake District Visitor Centre

After being fabulous for Sports Relief my son deserved a treat so as the sun was shining we headed up to Brockhole. It was just after lunch at it was fairly quiet in the car park. The gardens were looking very spring like:

Daffodils at Brockhole

First stop was the adventure playground as my son still had tonnes of energy to expend:

cargo net at Brockhole

#CountryKids at Brockhole

It was possibly the hottest day of the year so far today so after tennis club and a few chores we headed off to Brockhole. Luckily by time we got there some folks had left so there was space in the car park.

We had taken swimming gear so the first stop was the lake. Even though the water was very cold there were plenty of kids in the water. Most grown ups sensibly just put their feet in:

Didn't seem to deter my children though especially my daughter:

There were plenty of children jumping in off the jetty and swimming in the water! My daughter did manage to pluck up courage to jump but her brother was more sensible.

It gave me plenty of time to sit back and enjoy the views:

And we all enjoyed seeing the baby waterfowl:

After a couple of hours of splashing around the children were hungry so we nipped up to the cafe:

Amazingly the children still had energy left for the mini climbing wall and then the adventure playground. I was content to sit in the meadow reading a book whilst they had fun:

Eventually we all had enough of fun in the sun and headed home. No doubt we will be back very soon.

A Spring Afternoon at Brockhole

It was such a glorious day up here in Cumbria so after washing the car and having a picnic on the front lawn (in March!) we headed off to Brockhole to make the most of the unseasonally warm weather. When we got there just after 3 the car park was still pretty full even though it was less than an hour until the centre itself closed.

We put enough money in the machine for only 2 hours as we thought this would be plenty at that time of day. I had promised the children a round of crazy golf as we hadn't played for months. With it having been very wet the course had been temporarily moved to the hardstanding around the centre and it was a bit of an adventure finding it all. None of us are particularly good at golf but it was good fun:

We were just in time part way through the round to grab afternoon from the cafe as it shuts at 3:45. It was bliss sitting on the terrace in summer layers smelling the beautiful flowers and enjoying the wonderful views across to Windermere.

The grounds are really starting to come to life now and it was wonderful to pass by lovely sights like these as we finished our round of golf:

Family Fun: Brockhole, Windermere

Today with a bunch of mums and children I spent a delightful 4 hours at Brockhole the Lake District Visitor Centre. It was an absolutely stunning Cumbrian April day which was perfect to sample the delights on offer at Brockhole. 


It is situated about half way between the towns of Windermere and Ambleside on the A591 on the shores of Windermere and it is an ideal spot to spend all part of the day. There isn't an entrance fee but car parking starts at £1.80 for an hour and I managed to find £5 for a 4 hour stay as it is such a tranquil place to be:

As the party ranged in age from babies to age 7 we started off with a picnic in the outdoor adventure playground. This is fenced off from the main park to keep dogs out and has picnic tables as well as room for picnic rugs. There is a distinct area for children up to age 7 based around a boat and another for older children.

Even though the centre was busy the playground seemed to have plenty of room for the children to play safely. By the time they had over an hour climbing, sliding and having lots of fun it was very hot. Those of us that had opted for a longer stay headed on down to the shores of Windermere to cool off with a paddle:

The water was pretty cold with it only being April but we weren't the only ones tipping our toes or more in the water. In fact the children ended up sitting in the water and having a fabulous time. Other people had brought dinghies to float about on the water under the supervision of their parents. It was about an hour before we had all had enough of paddling and throwing stones and headed off in search of ice creams back at the main house. This was a slight adventure with a push chair as we didn't find the route that didn't have any steps!

Ice lollies for the children and tea or coffee for the mums on the terrace of the big house left the children (those old enough!) refreshed to try out the traversing wall which is adjacent to the cafe. My children then had fun exploring the interactive displays in the information centre and they finished with a session in the new soft play area. With it being a hot and sunny day we didn't make much use of this but I suspect it during a wet day the soft play area would be great for children to let off steam.

My children and I all won't to go back there soon and try out some of the things that we didn't get to do today. There are plenty of activities over the summer and my daughter is disappointed that she is just under the age limit for some of them! I can thoroughly recommend that for a family Brockhole is a cracking day out.