My kids and I thoroughly enjoyed the grounds. There's so much to see, including a pond with water…read morefowl, and an old mansion that looks right out of a book! There are so many green fields, I wish I were a native, so I could bring my dogs out here to run.

Roundhay park will always be a special place to me, I have so many memories here!…read more Situated a short drive from the city centre and with plenty of bus options, it's a MASSIVE expanse, with green areas, woodland, a lake, a cricket ground and more. There are other options in Roundhay, such as Tropical World (paid entry- animals and plants, a great day out for kids and grown ups!), as well as gorgeous flowered gardens to wander round. If you've got a dog and want to explore, it's perfectly dog friendly, but obviously you must clear up after them, and in the gardens it might be best keeping them on the lead. Within the park itself you can stroll around the massive lake (or jog if you're that way inclined!) or sit in one of the bandstands or on the grass and have a picnic. There's a kids park, and a gorgeous restaurant right on the lake, which I've never been to but hope to eventually. In the wooded bits there's plenty to explore, with some little ruins dotted around to get the kids' imagination going. Roundhay is a fantastic and free day out. I've never had any problems with crowds, yes it gets busy but it's so big there's plenty of room!

Ahh, Hyde Park. I thought I'd update my review, since it's been eons since I last show it some…read morelove. I've always been confused that everyone calls it Hyde Park, but it's actually Woodhouse Moor. What's up with that? I'll have to do some research and find out. I do love this park, even though there are down sides. The positives include amazingly huge trees, which often house my favourite birds - crows - who you'll find pecking about the place doing their thing. It's lovely to walk through, summer or winter, with these behemoths towering over the paths. The amount of green space makes this city feel much less of a city, and even on a summer's day when filled with students, you can find a spot to enjoy the green. There's also a WWII bunker, but, thankfully, it is closed off. I imagine it'd be terrifyingly claustrophobic in there. They're pretty strict about barbecues, which is probably a good thing, as people have a tendency to be lazy at the best of times - even on Unity day when it's encouraged to use the many bins, litter is just scattered around. And as mentioned previously, Unity day is one of the awesome yearly reasons to come out to the park. This year I had a delicious lunch from Sukhothai, and listened to some fabulous local live music. Also, some heavy boom music, which is all part of the experience. Last night a crew of us went to celebrate bonfire night here again, and whilst it's probably worth trekking to Roundhay more, I'm actually really fond of the underdog. I mean, you really have to work at being able to see anything. They place the fireworks so that they go off just at where the tree tops are, for most of the audience, and the fire safety brigade means you're actually about a mile from the blaze. (Which, naturally, means there's little heat or light to be seen.) But I love the naff-ness of it. And this year there were at least 10 really loud huge fireworks to finish, so I was pleased. 15 minutes of boom, and about 40 of making sure you don't lose anyone in the crowd. All part of the funs! The mulled wine I made also helped. But, jokes aside, I do love this place. And it could be the fond memories and being a country girl that does it, but I'll recommend a wander through Hyde Park to anyone. Bring a guitar, bring friends, bring your skates. Or just your imagination!

Woodhouse Moor consists of three parts…read more Formal Park: The main park area (which is usually referred to as Hyde Park) a 26 hectares square of green including a kids area, skate park, tennis court, basket ball court and allotments. This part of the Moor is predominantly used by students during the summer season, playing frisbee, eating picnics, drinking and generally making a mess. I don't mean to sound like a grouch, I for one absolutely love getting merry on the park and basking in the sun but I always clean up after myself. Unfortunately many people do not. During early August the park area also plays host to Unity Day, a fantastic celebration of culture and community with the aim of bringing people together. This is not to be missed. Monument (upper): A small piece of green home to a statue of Henry Rowland Marsden. It is adjacent to a strip of takeaways and plays host to nothing more than the occasional magpie or seagull. Somewhere I have sat and scoffed a pizza out of pure convenience, but otherwise would not have given a second thought. However, there are some little lonely looking steps that once were used for mounting horses, kind of interesting! Ish? Cinder (lower): Cinder is on the other side of the road from Monument and is a semi grassy, mainly gravelly spot on which the fair always parks its bum. The fair is like many other, and is more scary than fun due to it's gobby teenagers and rowdier of the locals. I have seen the odd jumble sale on here though which is always worth a visit.

A really beautiful setting awaits you if you have the time and inclination to get to Thwaite Mills…read more Semi-wild walkways follow along the canal routes and River Aire attracting buzzing wildlife. People can experience the water force once used to drive industry of oil making/refining and putty creating in the functioning mill as well as learning about how the workers lived by touring around the managers house now a Grade II listed building. Thwaite Mills are sometimes involved with wider Leeds events where boat rides to the city centre have been used along side music and dance workshops. It is a lovely place to pass warm summer days...when they arrive.

Lovely hidden gem in Leeds…read more Gorgeous old Watermill setting offering the old buildings & machinery, gardens and canal-side walks to suit all the family (and pooch) Ample parking and gift shop/tuck shop for those little niceties to take away as a momento of the visit.

Loads to do at this park, which ever end of it you go into! If you're near the sports centre,…read morethere's a big playground for kids, and a little one for the really young uns! And in the summer there is an excellent little railway. I took my boy on it back in September - think I enjoyed it more though haha! At the other end, there's a duck pond, pitch and put, a putting green, tennis courts, and gardens. And there's grass - loads of grass places to picnic etc! There's also a nice little cafe and a pub hidden away in there somewhere too! In the summer, they have a music festival with real ales etc. and this year Dodgy headlined the Saturday, which was pretty cool!

A great park right in the centre of Wakefield. There are so many things you can do at Thornes Park…read more- from feeding the ducks to playing pitch and putt or tennis! There's also a nice childrens' play area and a lovely rose garden, but I think the best thing really is the amount of grassy space to just have a picnic or play football or rounders. Part of the park is also used to host Wakefield's music festival every year, which showcases a host of local bands playing every type of music - from heavy metal to folk! This festival is certainly worth attending as every year it gets better and better, but the park's worth visiting at any time of the year. It's quite large but there's good access, with at least two car parks (and there are pubs nearby if you get thirsty!)

Huge playgym designed for kids up to the age of 7…read more We've visited this playgym a few times now for children's birthday parties and I personally find the place so big and daunting for a 2 year old. There are activities available for all ages, although very small area for under 5's compared to over 5's but the building itself is so big and found it very difficult to watch my child due to this. There were 4 children's parties taking place at one time and children were going with other groups by mistake so got the impression there was too much going on for them too. Quite expensive in comparison with other playgyms in the area but maybe that is to suit the older end of the children.

My 3 year old niece absolutely loves this playgym, it's a massive play area which caters for babies…read moreand toddlers plus older kids. Being the daredevil she is my niece isn't satisfied playing in the relatively small unders 5s play area and wanted to go on the bigger stuff. As she's not quite big enough on her own my sisters and I had to take it in turns to go on with her, 3 times climbing rope netting and huge stairs with a 3 year old is very hard work so we had to work on a rotation system to give each other a rest! I think we had nearly as much fun as she did though. You do have to be careful as the bigger kids are tearing around the place and don't think twice about knocking the smaller ones flying so don't let young ones enter the larger play area on their own.

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.

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.

I LOVE this place, it is my favourite! The swimming changing rooms are nice, the exercise class…read morerooms are nice and the swimming pool is nice. The gym is lovely, it's always smelling fresh and you see the staff cleaning them regulary. There are loads of equipment and there is a seperate room for the strength training machines. Half the equipment also have TV's on them so you can plug your earphones in and watch TV such as BBC1, ITV, music channels, sports and news. It's great working out while watching neighbours :) I've not been in the sauna and steam rooms in this one but you can see in and they certainly look a lot better than the Gym in the town centre (See my other review), nice and fresh :) I have had a bit of bother lately though over swimming lessons for my child though, and at present I am sorting it out, so I will keep you posted about that and let you know what their customer care is like in a week or so :)