Hebden Bridge park and the Park Life Cafe

I have been meaning to blog about this place for a while now. We LOVE going to Hebden Bridge park, and often have breakfast or lunch in the lovely Park Life Cafe, which has tables outside and suits my little Toddlebeast down to the ground as she can scramble and run around whilst I enjoy a coffee in the sun.

Planning your trip to Hebden Bridge

Hebden can get very busy, especially on weekends or during holidays, as it is a popular destination for tourists. However, I’ve found that if you arrive in the morning, there is always a bit of space in the car park near the train station. There’s a path that goes directly from the car park down into the park, so it is super convenient.

Enjoying the playpark in Hebden Bridge

The playground area is great fun for all ages. There are dedicated climbing frames and swings for younger ones, and a really amazing wooden climbing structure for older ones with a huge tube slide. Can’t wait for Olivia to be old enough to scramble up there! There’s also a pirate ship and a water play area with lots of equipment for pouring and splashing in the summer.

Exploring the garden area in Hebden Bridge

In the bigger bit of the park there is a skate park which is great for older ones, and also an outdoor gym area which toddlers love climbing and jumping around. There’s also a huge field for playing ball games or spreading out for a picnic, and you can easily get onto the canal to spot some boats and ducks too.

Food and drink at the Park Life Cafe

The cafe is in the middle of the park, and has outside seating that looks onto a grass play area with some lovely wooden blocks scattered around for climbing and sitting on. They do brilliant coffee and the food is yummy, with lots of choice and a great range of vegetarian and vegan food too. The staff are very friendly and also very patient and welcoming around young children.

Toddlebeast checks out Wellhome park in Brighouse

With Spring just around the corner we have started checking out some of the local parks we have overlooked in the past. We had never been to Wellhome Park before, but had heard good things about the climbing frames and spacious garden bits. We went along to check it out on a sunny days a couple of weeks ago.

Planning your visit to Wellhome Park

Situated just outside Brighouse centre, the park is easy to get to by bus and also has plenty of on road parking round the edge. We took snacks with us today, but there is a cute looking cafe with an outside seating area which we might try out next time.

Exploring the Wellhome Park playgrounds

The play equipment at the park is brilliant – there is a smaller climbing frame for younger children, which Olivia enjoyed as soon as we got there, with some baby and standard swings right next to it. However, her favourite bit was definitely the area for older children, which has an amazing climbing structure, and lots of unusual touches like rope climbing and trapeze bars.

Walking round the Wellhome Park gardens

As well as brilliant play areas, the park has extensive garden areas you can walk round. There is a river running through the grassy area which was lovely for exploring, and I really liked the huge old tree trunks dotted around – we all enjoyed climbing and jumping off those.

There is also a great area for teaching cycling, with a painted on road, and a couple of little paths leading up into some woodland. We are looking forward to coming back to explore again soon, there is plenty to keep young children occupied over a morning or afternoon.

Exploring Judy Woods with the toddlers

We were lucky enough to have some dry, warmish weather at the weekend, and it spurred me to get us into the outdoors and enjoy some fresh air. The winter months can be hard on parents and kids, with little opportunity to enjoy fresh air and space to run and climb – definitely my toddler’s favourite things to do! So we togged up and went exploring in Judy Woods in Norwood Green, near Halifax.

Planning your visit to Judy Woods

Based just next to the village of Norwood Green, the best place to park is on station road near the marked entrance to the woods. If you are going by bus I would probably recommend getting off in Norwood Green or Wyke, and walking from there. There are no cafes or toilets at Judy Wood, so pack your picnic and be prepared for a woods wee if need be!

Exploring the leaves and mud at Judy Woods

Although the weather was dry, there was still plenty of mud for the toddlers to enjoy! Olivia loved squelching in the muddy puddles in her wellies and jumping through the muddiest bits. The woods are really pretty and there were lots of fallen trees to climb, sticks to play with and different plants to look at. There is a beautiful river running through the woods which we didn’t get chance to explore this time, but we will definitely be going back for a splash in the warmer months.

There are benches dotted along the paths in the woods if anyone needs a rest, and the toddlers enjoyed getting their picnic boxes out for snacks on as many benches as possible!

Trying out Norwood Green playground

Just round the corner from where we parked there is a small village playground, which was great for burning off some extra energy before a lunch time nap. The swings there a fab – old fashioned long chains which means really lovely high long swings, which Olivia loves. There’s also a great climbing frame with different bits for older and younger kids, and a slide.

We had a great morning exploring the woods and the playpark, it was fun to see the little ones enjoying the first nice spring day we have had. I’d like to try more woodland walks with Olivia and would love to hear about your favourite places to go.

Manor Heath park in the winter

I don’t know about you but we are really ready to get outside and enjoy some fresh air after the rubbish weather we have had recently! Olivia loves being outside but hates being cold, so we have invested in some awesome warm all in ones and thermal gloves and socks in a bid to make sure we spend more time outside in the run up to spring. One of our favourite outdoor places to go is Manor Heath Park in Halifax, and we went recently on an unexpectedly sunny afternoon.

Planning your visit to Manor Heath Park

The park is easiest to get to by car, but you could get a bus to King Cross and walk down from there in about 5/10 minutes. There is a small car park at the top of the park but also lots of on street parking all the way around. The park is free to get in but the butterfly house is £1 per child.

Exploring Manor Heath Park playground

The play areas are really great, with something for all ages. The main park has a range of climbing frames, slides, baby swings, a big netted swing, a playhouse structure and a roundabout. There are also some lovely touches like some talking/listening tubes which allow children (or grownups!) to talk to each other across the playpark.

Mucking about in the water play at Manor Heath Park

A brilliant feature at Manor Heath is the water play area – in the summer there are buttons to press to make the water flow and then all kinds of troughs and sluices etc to get them children involved in directing, building up and releasing the water in different areas. It really is fascinating and a great way to learn and play at the same time. In the winter though, the water is turned off to avoid ice. Even so, Olivia loves running around and climbing over the troughs, plus what toddler doesn’t love poking a stick around some muddy rainwater for a while?!

Meeting some animals down at Manor Heath Park!

If the winter air gets a bit too fresh after a while and you need to warm up, you can head to the butterfly house for £1 per child. This small tropical conservatory has meandering paths to run along, an amazing array of tropical plants and some fish, terrapins, butterflies and occasionally quails to say hello to. Olivia loves it in here and calls it the ‘turtle house’. It is a lovely way to warm up and explore a different environment.

Are there any particular parks that you enjoy going to in the colder months? Bonus points if they have somewhere indoors to warm up when needed and a place to have a sheltered picnic!

Trampolining with a toddler in Halifax

A new trampoline park opened recently in Halifax, and we couldn’t resist a visit to try it out. Airtime is based in Ovenden in Halifax, so only a 20 minute drive for us, and I was confident that Olivia, being full of energy at all times, would love the opportunity to ricochet around a huge room full of trampolines!

Apologies in advance for the quality of the photos – not easy to do when trampolining!

Planning your visit to Airtime trampoline park

I would definitely advise booking your session at airtime – the toddler sessions run daily at 10am and come to just £5 for one under 5 and a parent. They are proving popular though so make sure you book online and don’t have a wasted journey. As Airtime is situated on a business park in Ovenden, there is plenty of parking . Just make sure you park in the bit signposted for the trampoline park – I went in the wrong bit and had to move my car, not much fun in the snow we were having that day!

Exploring the trampoline park

Once inside, you check in at the desk, buy your grippy socks (£2 for a reusable pair) and head in to put all your belongings in a locker and watch a short safety video. It is pretty much common sense really – watch out for small children rocketing around and don’t all crowd on to one trampoline. Then you head into the trampoline park for an hour of bouncy fun!

There are huge areas of open trampolines for jumping and running across, big blocks for jumping off, a balance beam over a foam pit and a huge air bag to dive on to. There are also some ball and sports based activities which I imagine would be great for the older kids.

Olivia particularly loved the balancing beam, jumping into the foam pit and running very fast across all the trampolines!

Eating and drinking at the trampoline park

A great little addition to the trampoline park is that you get free entry into the play gym and cafe during toddler sessions. We headed in after our bounce session to have some lunch and wind down. The food was reasonably priced, although I did think they could have more in terms of healthy options. Also, it gets really busy so I think an additional picnic area for those who bring packed lunches would be a fab idea.

Toddlebeast rating: 4/5

Overall it was a really fun morning out and definitely worth a visit – have you ever taken your smalls to a trampoline park? Which is your favourite?