Hubbard Hills is a kind of valley just on the edge of Louth…read more Great for a walk or a picnic. A steam runs through it with stepping stones and bridges. Great for kids like me to play and paddle in. The stream is apparently Tennysons Babbling Brook. Walk along the stream path or climb and walk the top path above the trees. I fell down here age 13. I looked like Steven Boyd after the chariot race in Ben Hur..grabbed for a root to stop my slide and rolled to the bottom. It is VERY high and a long way down. Park in the farm field..full of wild rabbits. Have a tea or ice cream in the cafe. There is a brick built loo block. Many a happy day spent here.

Wonderful place. Relaxing, beautiful hiking and nice atmosphere. Would definitely recommend…read morespending an afternoon here for a picnic.

Newly remodelled and busy with lots of kids. Toddler area is fenced. Jesus Green stretches around…read morefor good running and playing. There's a skate park nearby too. Daddy need to play too? The Fort St. George pub is just down river.

This restored Victorian garden is like a secret treasure hidden in the city centre. Step inside and…read moreyou're in another time and place. The sound of running water, the fountains and 'ruins', planting on various levels and in varied styles make this a charming place to wander around or simply sit and enjoy. This is somewhere very special to spend a relaxing hour.

A beautiful and remarkably well hidden garden, this is a lovely place to visit and spend an hour or…read moreso. The Plantation Garden is also a surprisingly good place to bring kids - it's pushchair accessible and great for hide and seek. There are a few steep slopes and a fountain, so younger children might need close supervision. The Garden is normally unstaffed (payment of the entry fee is by way of an honesty box) but on Sunday afternoons volunteers are usually there to serve tea and cake.

Eaton park is one of the best green spaces in Norwich. It is great for sports and has pitch and…read moreputt, tennis, bowls and croquet areas. There are also flat playing fields for more informal ball games and running around. All the paths are smooth and flat and are ideal for children to ride their bikes on in a safe environment away from roads. My children's favourite part is of course the play area which is all built over sand so don't forget to bring your buckets and spades with you too! As well as spending a great deal of time here we also like to play games of Hide and Seek in and around the Rose Garden and try and spot fish and frogs in the Lily Pond. Be warned if you have very young children as this is not fenced off. There is also a model steam railway (open Sundays only in the summer) and a model yacht pond. The focal point of the park is the bandstand in the centre of the park. A small coffee shop and toilet facilities are also to be found near here. We always enjoy our time here and of course it's free!

What an incredible park! Tons of features for various aged children, be careful with water lover…read morechildren,the water feature is on even when it's quite cold and is not activated by a button, it's just on.

Holywells park has a long, rich heritage, dating back 1000s of years. In the 1750s, Thomas…read moreGainsborough painted the area that was to become Holywells Park - in fact the pools he depicted are still there today. The modern history of the park really starts with the Cobbold family, who owned the land and used the water from the natural springs to make beer. In the 1930s they donated the land to the people of Ipswich. Today the 67 acres are a mixture of parkland, fields, ponds, brooks and woodland. There is also an impressive play area (named after the ship Discovery that sailed to N America and founded Jamestown). The various footpaths through the woods and the parks are great places to walk dogs (in fact, if your dog is well behaved, the park is ideal to let dogs off their leads) and you can sometimes find it hard to believe that you are only a few minutes from the centre of Ipswich.

Great forest for family fun! Many different things to do and enjoy all day Lots of different play…read morestructures spread out threw the forest, bike riding trails, hiking/ walking trails, Go Ape activities, picnic areas, and open fields, tons of parking, bathrooms available, cafe shop for cup of coffee or hot meal. Plenty to choose from

We often come here from Norwich for a day out as there is so much to do…read more First, there are some lovely walks in this beautiful, mostly pine forest. With our small children we tend to take the route that includes all the fantastic wooden play sculptures. This means every few hundred yards or so you come across a wooden rabbit, bird, squirrel and so on designed to be explored with slides, fireman poles, ladders etc This keeps them going all the way round and they have a lot of fun. There are also some fantastic cycle routes available, different trails according to the level of difficulty. If you are a seasoned mountain biker you may wish to bring your own bike, on the other hand if you just want to have a taste of what it is like there are bikes available for hire by the hour or longer. We hired some once with a kids trailer fixed to the back of the bike and our girls loved it! There is a lovely open grassy area near the High Lodge Visitor Centre where you can play your own ball games too. We have been with a large party before and had a great day here using that area, hiring the barbecues to cook our lunch on and exploring the adjacent adventure play area. The centre itself has a gift shop and largish restaurant if you don't feel like bringing a picnic. There is a small charge of £6 to enter Thetford Forest if you park at High Lodge. Well worth it when you consider a family can have a brilliant day out for that amount!

This is exactly what it says on the packet - a maze. It is a maze made of bushes, some are very…read morenarrow and we just managed to get the pushchair through. It took us about 40 minutes to find the centre. Do not got if you are claustrophobic, have a double buggy or need the toilet. Amazing.

There is not alot here. It is basically just a maze made out of bushes…read more There are facilities for a picnic, but it is not an all day activity. I would say maximum of 2 hours if you are having a picnic. There are not many directions on the road, and on hitchin road, you are almost upon it before you realise you are there.

Best park around. Has a little cafe with excellent and bacon baps (ham on a bun) for a walk around…read morethe park. It has swans, geese, ducks, seagulls and coots that you can feed. A former quarry, if you're lucky you can spy a kingfisher or a heron. Bathrooms and parking are here, with playground for kids if you have any.

5 hectares of lakes, riverbank and meadows to explore, close to the historic market town of Oundle…read more With three way marked waterside trails, numerous picnic spots, a wealth of wildlife and facilities, Barnwell Country Park is a great place for a family day out.

Terrific fun and excitement for the whole family whether it's raining, sunny, hot, cold, snowing or…read moretuesday.we've been to all the Parcs in all weathers and it doesn't matter. Eleveden in Thetford Forest was great as it's flat so the best place for children's bikes and pushing pushchairs - compare to centre Pacrcs at Longleat which is beautiful and brilliant but so, so hilly! The sub tropical paradise is marvellous as well as the outdoors stuff - my children particularly enjoyed the high ropes and adventure activities as well as cricket, football, cycling and so on.endless list. Doing so much can add up in cost but you can always eat most of your meals in your villa - needn't take long to have fresh pasta etc and it'll cut down the costs. Enjoy

As a family we are serious fans of centre parcs and by a split majority this is the favourite of…read morethe uk versions. So Centre Parcs is a family holiday park based in the middle of a forest with a giant leisure pool at the centre along with a sports centre, spa, water facilities and access to practically every sport you could wish for. A mixture of restaurants and bars are dotted around the place and a lake offers a mix of water sports. There is a fairly expensive supermarket with some local produce - we normally take food with us, For your money you get a detached villa, rather cleverly designed so you have your own private space - they are mostly modern and well equipped, with good kitchens and plenty of space and free access to the pool. Wildlife on your doorstep - rabbits, deer and ducks Middle class parents cycling around to do sports with their kids.... Everything else you book and pay for just like a leisure centre.The whole place runs smoothly - the pool is great. The best indoor pool in the UK that we have sampled - and we visit a lot. Separate review for that.... and also the best water slide in the UK - The Tropical Cyclone - a brand new £4 million slide - great fun. Sampling this new slide was the driver for our visit. Separate review for that...... Expensive during school holidays but out of season you can get some great mid week deals. A must to visit for the pool and slide alone - everything else is a bonus. With kids or with friends and family a great place to have a lot of fun.

Since Rushmoor opened a few years ago it has steadily grown in popularity thanks to the friendly…read moreowners, the clever set-up (there are childrens' toys, a bouncy castle and a play area next to the cafe - genius!) and the attraction of the animals themselves. Rushmoor is a farm park with tea rooms - there are sheep, ducks, goats, horses and hens outside, and inside there are rabbits, owls, chinchillas, guinea pigs and all manner of small, scrabbly animals to keep children entranced. Rushmoor have a fantastic party room, which can be hired for a small fee, and they also provide party food from the tea rooms so it's an excellent venue for a children's party. Although the one we had there was blighted by near-constant rain! It's not really a place to visit when there's rain

My mum has taken my eldest daughter here on several occassions and loves the place (as does my…read moredaughter). It's very close to Louth, so not as far to travel as somewhere like Rand Farm, and its very reasonably priced. There are loads of animals to see and the people who run the farm are extremely friendly. My daughter actually fed the lambs on one of her visits and still talks about it to this day. I suppose its only criticism would be its smallness, but this could be considered a good thing too. It's a shame that more people don't go there to be honest.