Cliffe Castle – exploring a castle in Keighley

I love finding out about interesting and unusual places to explore with Olivia, especially when they are free and on my Yorkshire doorstep! I hadn’t heard of Cliffe Castle before it was recommended to me by another lovely mama, but her description of a museum with lots animals to look at and a great outside space meant we had to go check it out.

Planning your visit to Cliffe Castle

Cliffe Castle is just outside Keighley town centre, around 15 minutes walk from the bus or train station. It is easy to drive to, and has a car park which is free to use. It gets very busy on a weekend though so it is often easier to find a space on the streets surrounding the grounds, which are also free. The museum is generally open 10-4 weekdays and 11-4 weekends, but is closed on Mondays.

Exploring the museum at Cliffe Castle

We went into the museum first as it was drizzling when we arrived, and we were looking forward to exploring the mansion in the warm. The entrance to the museum is very beautiful and ornate, and it was lovely to see Olivia looking up at the carvings and paintings. Once inside, there are two floors of galleries to explore, themed around different areas of Victorian history, natural history, archaeology and social history.

Our favourite spaces were the stained glass display, the preserved mummies and the local student artwork section. Olivia loved pointing out all the different animals in the stained glass area.

The only downside for us was that there was a LOT of pressure on young children to be quiet and slow throughout the mansion. I generally think that, for a 2 year old Olivia understands fairly well about using inside voices and slow steps when necessary, but we still felt a bit on edge. There were signs everywhere in red and bold telling children to walk slowly and be quiet, and we saw a member of staffing walking around telling people off very grumpily. For this reason we only lasted about 20 minutes in the house and then went outside to explore in a more relaxed atmosphere.

The adventure playground

We were very excited to find a fab adventure playground outside which Olivia immediately ran to and starting exploring – I love seeing her confidence in the outdoors, she is such a dare devil! They had a great big tube slide which she played on for ages, and a nice sand pit area and some cool bouncing areas set into the floor. We spent a good hour on the park, and will definitely come back again in warmer weather.

The animals at Cliffe Castle

Unfortunately when we visited renovations were ongoing so the animal areas were not open. We would definitely like to come back and explore them another time, and have been told they will include bees and an aviary.

Eating and drinking at Cliffe Castle

There is a big cafe in the conservatory near the park, which looked nice, but we didn’t eat there so I’m not sure on the quality of the food. We took some snacks and there are lots of places to enjoy a picnic in the huge park in the warmer months.

Toddlebeast rating: 2.5

Cliffe Castle was a fun trip out for the afternoon, we really enjoyed the playpark, but I don’t think the mansion is that welcoming for younger children unless you can keep them VERY quiet and slow! We do look forward to returning in the summer though for picnics and exploring the big gardens.