Category × County
16 Best Parks and Playgrounds In Cumbria
Most of Cumbria's sixteen ask you to walk before they give you anything, and it is worth squaring that with your children early. Aira Force is the clearest case: the car park is where the visit starts, not what it is. Whinlatter Forest is forestry with graded trails, so you choose your effort at the map board. Gentler water-side circuits sit at Talkin Tarn Country Park and Fell Foot Park, where the good part begins more or less where you leave the car. Town-scale, and much kinder on small legs: Ford Park. Three of the best-rated entries do not belong under this label at all — two farms, Abbott Lodge plus Lakeland Maze Farm Park, and an animal collection at Lake District Wildlife Park — and on those three the walking gets done for you.
Top parks and playgrounds in Cumbria
Showing 1–12 of 16
Parks and PlaygroundsAira Force
Parks and PlaygroundsWhinlatter Forest
Parks and PlaygroundsTalkin Tarn Country Park
Children's FarmsAbbott Lodge
Parks and PlaygroundsFord Park
Parks and PlaygroundsFell Foot Park
Zoos and Wildlife ParksLake District Wildlife Park
Children's FarmsLakeland Maze Farm Park
CastlesMuncaster Castle
SightseeingMirehouse
CastlesSizergh Castle - National Trust
Parks and PlaygroundsBitts Park
Boots, not trainers, for most of this list. A dry pair of socks waiting in the car does more for the mood on the way home than anything else you might pack. Five of the sixteen have indoor space flagged, which in this county is worth knowing before committing to a day. For a child who needs a destination to aim at, choose somewhere with an obvious one — a tarn, a waterfall, a play area — rather than open landscape and good intentions.
Parks and Playgrounds in Cumbria: FAQs
How far will we actually have to walk?
Trail lengths are not something we record, so settle it on the operator's own page, which repays ten minutes of reading. Forest sites usually mark routes by colour and give a rough time for each, which is the most useful number you will find anywhere in this category. Pick one below what your child can manage rather than at the limit of it, and keep something in reserve for the walk back.
What happens if the weather closes in?
Five of the sixteen carry an indoor flag, and somewhere dry to stand is likeliest at the farms or at the wildlife park. On fell and forest sites, assume nothing between you and the sky. Cumbria rewards families who go out anyway in full waterproofs and punishes the ones who go out in a fleece, which is less a forecast than a packing instruction.
Is a pushchair going to work?
On Ford Park and the flatter water-side circuits, probably. On forest trails and anywhere with a waterfall in the name, expect steps, roots and gates, and take a carrier instead. The general rule in this county is that the more beautiful the photograph, the less likely a buggy is to reach the spot it was taken from.
Which work with a toddler?
The farms first, because the interest sits close by, the ground is managed, and nobody has to walk far to reach any of it. Water and ducks also hold a two-year-old for far longer than scenery does, which puts Talkin Tarn Country Park and Fell Foot Park in play. Forest trails and fell ground can wait until walking is something your child does for pleasure.