An excellent fitness and leisure centre in the huge Quarry House near Leeds Playhouse. It's not…read morethat cheap at £26 per month for full membership, but there is a pool, squash courts and a well equipped fitness room. Add to that qualified fitness instructors who you can book for 1-2-1 sessions and get your fitness routine worked out so it's right just for you. They have various classes you can attend, from yoga to badminton to circuits. It's good stuff. I've never been fit but this place is slowly getting me going in the right direction - I hope there's no looking back!

Medieval martial arts club. Covers german longsword, Italian dagger, French polaxe and 19th century…read morewalking stick

A lovely, large park about 1 mile from the centre of Bradford town centre…read more There are many walks, picnic areas, childrens play areas, opportunities to indulge in an ice cream. There are lots of differently themed areas - some densely wooded areas, a small pitch and putt golf course, and planted areas. If the weather is good, then spend a relaxing time in the park, followed by an interesting visit to Bowling Hall Museum which is just over the road from the Bowling Hall Road entrance to the park.

This is my local park, loads for kids to do from parks and trails. Park run have a route here on…read moreSaturdays from 9am & I love the Oakwell Music Festival that's on in July.

Open all year round, free entrance, its good for a variety of different walks in woodland or more…read morechild/pushchair friendly. There is a great swing park and small cafe (where to be honest the service is slow and the food not amazing) but there are zillions of blackberries to be picked at the right time of year. There is a lovely little visitor centre, and a small gift shop as well.

This is probably the nicest place to swim in the North - clean and well kept 50m pool which is…read morerarely busy, changing rooms are really well kept, cafe is cheap and chearful, and parking is free - much nicer than Manchester Aquatics, there is no kids pool here tho. Free entrance with a bodyline card which is a steal really as it's a fantastic and under used facility. Stadium next door has a well kept large gym and they will even let you have a run round the track if there's no-one using it. As it's on the edge of Middleton Park it's a great place to run and swim, outskirts of leeds so rarely busy.

It's so weird when you wander in somewhere, somewhere you've never been, and have a sense of déja…read morevu. As soon as I descended the stairs to 1st bowl I felt as though I'd been there before, which I haven't, but perhaps it was the feeling of stepping back into childhood. The last time I'd been bowling was when I was 14, and it looks like bowling alleys haven't changed a bit since. Or perhaps it was the Peep Show episode that made it seem familiar? Regardless, if you've not been in a while, you still know what to expect. The counter comes first, to pay for your lanes and games, and hand in your shoes. It's a simple exchange, and the staff are very friendly. For two games it cost £8 for two, which is really extremely cheap for over two hours of good solid fun. (Well, that depends if you enjoy bowling.) We had a big group of us, for a birthday outing, and it was fantastic. The alleys are grand, the system is easy, and it's all as simple as that. I did my best to channel Jesus from Lebowski, but alas, I wasn't good. I managed a couple of strikes, and a few spares, but then made up for that with several 0 scores. What is it with my arm bowling to the left? Damn it! It also brought out an uncontrollable competitive edge. Why this came out with bowling I've no idea! Anyway, I love it, and I want to go again. As for the other amenities, there's a bar, a place to order various fried goods, and a ton of arcade games. The bar serves up very standard, if below par drinks. (Depending on your tastes.) The most exotic beers are Guinness and creamflow Worthingtons, and there's a range of WKDs and VKs. That's the kind of boozing had here. As for the food, I didn't dare risk a hot dog for a quid, so had some breaded mushrooms and chips. The mushrooms I regretted, as they really didn't sit well. Very greasy, and not delicious, but edible if you're starving. The other games are good, but could have been better. With a tempting range of Mario Kart, some FPS games, air hockey, American pool, and various others, it's packed with potential fun for an evening. However, only managed to get air hockey to work. (Mario wouldn't accept any coins, and Time-something-or-other glitched half way through.) We also saw someone try out the 'hurricane' machine, which looked more like a light blow dry. But the air hockey I loved. Probably because I won! In summary, I like it. I liked it because bowling is loads of fun, and the staff were grand. I didn't love it because the food and booze is below par, and some of the games we tried didn't work. However, I'd definitely come back. So, it's a straight middle ground 3 out of 5. Anyone want to go bowling?!

Bowling is well fun! I am totally crap at it. But still, it's a good laugh…read more Leeds Bowl has been the location of a few of my friends birthday celebrations and lightened the mood of more than a few friends on low days. With 26 lanes, a full bar and diner and a few large American pool tables they have everything you need for an evening of silly uplifting entertainment. Take a good mate who you know you can have a laugh with, and you should have a great time. Prices are really good compared to the bowling alleys in my hometown at £5.15 each per game. £10.20 for two games. Or £2.50 for your third game if you are still eager to bowl. They also have a family offer of £7.50 for 90 mins which will keep the little ones happy for a while at least. There's always a day when you need some kind of cheering up. Leeds Bowl is the place to do it.

I'm back, from out of space. Okay maybe Spain isn't out of Spain but I'm of need of some hot…read morerocking Yorkshire action and more flat caps and whippets than is humanely possible. So by eck I'm off to Wharfemeadows Park and a reminder that holidays are great but there is no place like home. This is a bit of a trek out of Leeds city centre but Otley is such a nice destination that it's worth the 14 mile venture. It's a luscious riverside park with plenty of open spaces and enough to keep everyone interested. The children's play area is pretty large and has a designated area for disabled children. You've also got some radical skating facilities, like seriously dude throw another half pipe, like awesome (oh dear this old girl needs to get a life). If you're feeling active yourself then have a spot of tennis and follow it up with a Pimms at the café (well maybe not but a good cuppa will go down a treat). Add to that bowling and some lovely formal planted areas and even Charlie Dimmock would be throwing her bra off in celebration. Oh and the River Wharfe is just a wee walk away so a nice afternoon stroll can finish the day off nicely. Very pleasant indeed.

Otley park is right on the river Wharfe so there's always loads of ducks, geese and swans to feed…read more There's a really good play area for little ones that has recently been refurbished and includes a fantastic water wheel/engineering type contraption. There's plenty of space for ball games, a skate park, a small wood and loads of places to walk dogs. It's also a good place to start a walk along the river, be warned it can get very muddy.

Kirkstall Leisure Centre is a diamond amongst a sleepier part of Leeds. It gives the locals…read moresomewhere to keep fit and for kids to enjoy activities when the park is less inviting through winter months. They have a huge amount of stuff going on to choose from which are bound to keep the little ones occupied during the holidays, and keep us lot from keeping those post Christmas belly's. Things like swimming, a wide range of fitness classes (yoga, step aerobics, aqua aerobics, boxercise and circuit training), childrens activities such as dance or martial arts, football, badminton, squash, kick boxing, fencing, and (deep breath) running club. If that wasn't enough they also do children's parties in case you're stuck for ideas and don't fancy having a group of little monkeys roaming around your house. It is a great thing to have in the area and people of all ages can get involved.

On a recent mission to keep fit (or rather, begin to get fit as it were) my friend and I decided to…read moretry and make a weekly appointment to go and exercise somewhere. Initially, as we had designs on playing squash, we decided to try Holt Park Leisure Centre but failed to ever find that seemingly mythical place. We decided in the end to try Kirkstall as, although they are renovating the squash areas etc, we could swim once a week in the interim. Ah. What a find. It is easy to get to (if you miss rush hour traffic) and nicely laid out. It's a bit of a mission to find the entrance on your first try - go round the front of the car park and follow the route to the door all the way round - but obviously, once you've been there that initial time this should cease to be a problem. Swimming cost around £3.80 (I can't quite remember) which was a shock since the last time I went, albeit it was 8 plus years ago, it cost me about £1.50. The swimming facilities themselves are reasonable. The toilets were certainly in need of a clean and not fully stocked of toilet roll, which is always a bummer. (Pun-tastic...!) The showers, which you are required to utilise pre-swim, were a little on the cold side but warm up after a minute. The pool itself is not huge and not deep but is perfectly adequate for swimming lengths to keep fit - which is what it's all about! Happily, despite the variable of other people which can't be helped, I managed about 24 lengths in about 15 minutes. Yippee! It would have been more had I not had to try three lockers before I could finally get the key out to secure my things. On my first trip here I was really rather pleased, hopefully it is not just the natural seretonin boost that I've gotten from my first exercise in yonks!