Today we had a family day out to Stockeld Park near Wetherby, our first time visiting. I’ve heard so many good things about it and it’s been on our ‘to do’ list for ages so we finally went – and realised why everyone raves about it!
The first thing to say is a massive thumbs up to all the staff at Stockeld for doing such a good job of the re-opening after lockdown. It was incredibly clean. There were not just lots of hand sanitisers but also full hand wash stations with soap and water available throughout the park and next to play areas, all were fully stocked with soap and sanitiser and I felt our hands were super clean all the time. The staff were regularly closing play area sections to fully disinfect them and all staff were in masks and aprons. Out of all the places we have visited since lockdown was eased this is the place I have felt safest and that has put the most effort in to keeping the attraction fully sanitised. It’s advance tickets only so it wasn’t too busy, there is a one way system to follow and most people were being great at keeping distance and keeping their children a safe distance from others. Even for lunch you just scan a QR code to see the menu then order at the kiosk so you don’t need to touch menus! Every detail seemed to have been thought out and planned.
We arrived at 10am (in the rain!) and headed off to explore, starting in the first play area and on the go-karts, my son’s favourite thing of the day.
Then we entered the Forbidden Forest and tried out all of the various play areas. I loved the surprise of not knowing what you were going to find next; we found a lot of awesome play areas and things to spot!
After a full circuit around the forest we headed back to the main entrance area for lunch. The car park was right next to the entrance and handy to nip back to the car for our picnic bag and to dump the wet weather jackets as the sun had come out. There were lots of benches, all spaced out, or you could put your rug down on the grass. With a few black clouds still looming we chose a bench under cover but with open sides and felt very safe sitting there. We got coffees (very good coffee, I am a snob about coffee when we go out!) and ice creams from the kiosk afterwards. Then we went back to the main field area to try the bouncy pillow, bouncy slide and bouncy assault course which had all been dried and cleaned down.
We then went back through the forest for a second time to visit the play areas that had been closed for cleaning on our first trip through and to re-visit favourite sections. With one last go on the go-karts it was somehow 4.30pm and the day had flown by! We headed home and it took around an hour to drive back to Hull.
Overall I thought it was a fantastic day out. There were play areas ideal for all ages and both of my children (age 6 and 9) really enjoyed it. I really was very impressed by the level of cleanliness and the measures in place for covid19. If you are still a little anxious about days out then this is an ideal place to start. There were lots of staff making sure everyone was going the correct way and making sure people were safe, even the toilets were staffed and they told you when you could enter safely.
We are definitely going to be back again soon!
Please note info from Stockeld for Summer 2020: Some facilities such as indoor play, the maze, boats and skate won’t be available, as we are unable to safely open these activities while adhering to social distancing measures. This is reflected in the reduced ticket price for the Summer Adventure. The indoor cafe will be closed but there will be outside catering (contactless payment only) and toilets. Pre-booking of tickets required.