South Hill Park Arts Centre is a stunning 18th Century mansion home in Bracknell. It has two theatres, a dance studio and a cinema. What’s more are the beautiful award winning grounds it has to offer which are wonderful for a stroll.
This is one of our favourite places to visit as a family. With its large free parking, it makes accessing the facilities simple. The grounds are also free to access consisting of picturesque landscape gardens, woodland, lakes and children’s play areas. Its also dog friendly.
There are four colour coded marked trails that guide you around the grounds. They also differ in length.
The blue Temple Trail is a flat pathed lake side walk and meanders through some woodland with a few woodland sculptures to spot. You’ll spot South Hill Park playground located next to a children’s nursery.
There is a bridge that then continues your walk over to the other side of the gardens. When we visited the gravel paths were lined with gorgeous bluebells which was quite unexpected. You can continue the blue Temple Trail or head up hill into the woodland picking up the yellow Gladstone Glade trail where we spotted squirrels and mini beasts.
We came across a great area that was specifically constructed with a bug type hotel to encourage natural habitation and a fabulous place interactive space for kids to hunt for bugs. This area is more uphill (or downhill depending on where you start it) and more challenging with a buggy due to its uneven paths.
Nearby is the small rose garden which leads on to a Yew Walk. Here you will spot the small sand based play park which is fenced off and perfect for toddlers. It’s also ideally situated by the café which is open for takeaway drinks or open for indoor or outdoor dining.
Two of the trails, the red Wander Snail Trail and the green Haversham Hike trail take you across the road to a larger field and balancing ponds. These are popular for fishing and have a large amount of wildlife to spot. Here there is also another play park hidden in woodland which we loved discovering. It’s a popular one with slightly older children. It’s just behind the boardwalk which is accessed via the large grassed field opposite the front entrance of South Hill Park Centre.
There is an online orienteering map that can you can print off for the kids to enjoy to help you explore the grounds.
Orienteering leaflet, March2016 (southhillpark.org.uk)
South Hill Park also hosts some highly entertaining theatre productions perfect for all the family so its worth keeping an eye out for any upcoming shows. If you’re looking for family friendly events in Berkshire, check our what’s on in Berkshire listings.
If you’re looking for more ideas for a family day out in Bracknell, try Popes Meadow in nearby Binfield, Savernake Park or Lily Hill Park.
