14 Best Sports & Activity Venues In County Durham

At the karting and riding venues, much the same thing. You sign something, a member of staff explains the rules, kit is issued and a timed session begins. That is the pattern at TopGear Karting and TeamSport Indoor Karting Stockton-on-Tees, while Field House Equestrian Centre and Pockerley Riding School run their own version of it. Allow spare time before the slot rather than arriving on the dot.

South Durham Gymnastics is the obvious answer, since gymnastics clubs generally start children far younger than motorsport can. Tweddle Children's Animal Farm takes anyone who can walk or be carried. Teesdale Sports Centre brings a pool into it, and that is the only entry here likely to suit a toddler and an older sibling in one visit.

Riding is the gentler introduction and the one that leads somewhere. Pockerley Riding School and Field House Equestrian Centre both record open space, and one of the pair records covered space too, which matters for a first lesson in poor weather. Karting is louder, faster and over sooner, and a nervous child can find the briefing alone off-putting. Neither is wrong; they fail in different ways.