Mo Mowlam Play Park

What it’s like

A free outdoor play park with a castle-themed climbing trail, cableways and a nine-metre wavy slide, open every day of the year.

This is a big outdoor playground built around a castle theme, and the high-level trail across it is the sort of thing that takes a good while to work up the nerve for and then gets done ten times in a row. There's a double-width wavy embankment slide that runs nine metres down an embankment, a 10.6 metre Duo Pyramid Tower with tube slides, climbing nets and a rope swing, plus two 30-metre cableways if your kids like the feeling of flying across a park at speed.

There's a toddler area for the smaller ones who aren't ready for the big frames, and a multi-sensory play area built for children with sensory needs. The swing set includes one that can take a wheelchair, alongside a roundabout, a low-level lookout tower and a trampoline. Every Sunday from 9.30 to 10.30am there's a Quiet Hour, aimed at giving children with extra needs a calmer, less crowded start.

It's free to get in and open every day from 9.30am to 7.30pm, though the site says hours follow daylight and it closes half an hour before the wider Estate does, so it's worth turning up earlier if you're going late in the year. There's a car park a hundred metres past the main gates, a café on site, and picnic areas if you'd rather bring your own food. Toilets, baby change and a Changing Places facility are all there too, and dogs are welcome as long as they're kept under control.

Give it a good couple of hours if the weather's playing along. With cableways, climbing walls, fireman's poles and a fair few different swings scattered around, it's less a quick stop and more a proper afternoon out, and there's enough spread across the site that older kids and younger ones can both find their own bit of it.

Facilities

Need to know

Parking

Free parking in play park car park 100 metres after main gates on the left

Dogs

Should be kept under control at all times

• Closing time follows daylight hours and is 30 minutes before the wider Estate shuts, so check timing later in the year
• Quiet Hour runs every Sunday 9.30 to 10.30am for children with extra needs
• There's a Changing Places facility on site, not just standard baby change
• Wheelchair-accessible swing and multi-sensory play area are built into the main play area, not a separate zone

Plan your visit

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