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14 Best Parks and Playgrounds In Cornwall
The Cornish problem is rarely too few options; it is what to do when the beach plan dies at breakfast. Fourteen sites carry this label and they do not cope equally. Wooded valleys handle rain well: Cardinham Woods, which our record shows as free, and St Nectans Glen both sit under trees, and a river gorge arguably improves with water in it. Open gardens and headland estates are the opposite, and Glendurgan Garden - National Trust and Mount Edgcumbe are glorious in still air and hard work in a gale off the sea. Screech Owl Sanctuary, Cornish Birds Of Prey Centre and Hidden Valley Discovery Park add animals or activity to the choice.
Top parks and playgrounds in Cornwall
Showing 1–12 of 14
Zoos and Wildlife ParksScreech Owl Sanctuary
Parks and PlaygroundsCardinham Woods
Parks and PlaygroundsHidden Valley Discovery Park
SightseeingMount Edgcumbe
Zoos and Wildlife ParksCornish Birds Of Prey Centre
SightseeingPencarrow House and Gardens
Parks and PlaygroundsGlendurgan Garden - National Trust
Parks and PlaygroundsSt Nectans Glen
Parks and PlaygroundsHeartlands
Theme ParksCamel Creek Family Adventure Park
Parks and PlaygroundsSiblyback Lake
Parks and PlaygroundsSpringfields Fun Park and Pony Centre
Two of the fourteen show free entry, and our record is incomplete for most of the rest, so look the place up directly before you travel instead of guessing. The seasonal point is simpler: a garden has a season, and a garden visited outside it is a pleasant walk with a good view rather than the thing the photographs promised. If you are down here in the quieter months, weight your choice towards woodland, water and animals, which give you much the same day whatever the month.
Parks and Playgrounds in Cornwall: FAQs
It is raining and the beach is off. Which of these still works?
Woodland and valley sites, in that order. Trees take the edge off rain in a way that open lawn cannot, paths under cover stay usable, and running water looks better wet than dry. Cardinham Woods and St Nectans Glen both sit in that group. Animal attractions are the other reasonable answer, since the visit has a structure to it and there is usually somewhere to stand under cover between one enclosure and the next.
Are the gardens worth visiting outside the growing season?
They are still good walks, and the big estates keep their shape and their trees through the year, but be honest with children about what they are being taken to see. A planted garden out of season asks an adult's patience of a six-year-old. If that is the plan anyway, pick one where there is more than planting on offer, such as a site with woodland, water or a house attached, so the day does not rest entirely on what is in flower.
How much difference does the wind make down here?
More than the rain, especially near the sea. A headland estate or a cliff-side garden in strong wind is genuinely unpleasant with small children, and it will end the trip long before anyone is tired. Inland woodland barely registers the same conditions. If the forecast leads on wind rather than rain, that alone should move your choice inland, and it is the single most useful filter for this county.
Which of the fourteen keep an older child interested?
The ones offering activity rather than scenery. Hidden Valley Discovery Park is built around activity, and the bird and owl centres give a visit a shape and a reason to keep moving. Large landscape gardens work better for older children when there is ground to cross and a reason waiting at the far end. A park that is only a park is a hard sell to a child who came expecting a day out.