To think that there should NOT be a children's play area at every single bloody tourist attraction I go to?

[LittleBella]

I mean, Leeds Castle - a beautiful, interesting castle with stunning grounds, peacocks, restaurant, land train, maze, grotto, craft room... isn't that enough? Isn't an effing CASTLE enough? And Wildwood - wolves, wild boar, badgers, loads of wild animals, craft stuff, trails - WHY do children need a play area? OK perhaps I am being very unreasonable, but I feel there's something philistine and vulgar about teaching kids that they have to have effing special playgrounds at every single attraction they go to. Why can they not be expected to just enjoy the fact that they're being taken for a day out and play around the grounds which have masses of space?

I almost feel like writing letters of complaint saying that the playgrounds spoilt my enjoyment of the venue. Am I a grumpy old curmudgeon? I suspect I am...

I think that they are wonderful, I wish they were as exciting when I was a DC!
I sometimes got to have a go when they were little and needed rescuing!
It doesn't mean that you spend your life in these places! We have always walked a lot with them or they have been in the woods making dens or in a field playing cricket etc.
If they are tucked away so they can come at the end then I think it is good to let off steam before the journey home.

fullmoon, there is a place like that that i used to go to, it was a old ruined castle in northumberland, and it was also free!!!
we would spend days there, with no bloody gimmicks whatsoever, now, its costs a fortune to get in,. and has a hideous, brightly coloured play area that imo looks really out of place, and totally spoils the whole atmosphere!! oh and the ice cream and chip van...... ffs whats that all about????

i mean, some parents dont even join in. i was just agreeing with you thats all

But yes to the off the beaten track thing. Very few playgrounds near us so we love them when we get them but had a lovely time recently on a country walk where we have discovered mounds of earth for scrambling up (and sliding down for the DCs).

OK

exactly abbeya everything in moderation, like i said, i do frequent these places, just dont make a habit of it thats all, plus we are strapped for cash at the moment, so a quick run about on the beach, with a few soggy sarnies, is just, if not more, fun.

should have said, is just AS much fun

I luuuurve the play areas at Leeds Castle and Wildwood, and at Farming World

But I also love that some places like Walmer Castle don't have play areas. It means I have a choice - two enthusiastic kids we go to places without them; one of them being fretful, we go to a place where I know they will cheer up when they see a play area.

And some places we would never go to in a million years if it wasn't for the bits and bobs thrown in for the kids. For example we have a huge wood near where I live where the forrestry commission has built 'dens' out of wood and foliage throughout the forest (wood cabins and climbing 'art' and other stuff dotted round as well). Because of these I can keep my kids walking round for hours and hours wheras at their ages (both under 5) it would be a struggle to keep them entertained for anything like that long.

As my kids grow I anticpate relying on this stuff less and less but at the moment they are life-savers.

squiffy - do you mean kings wood in wye? If not, wheres that, it sounds cool?

Do you think Leeds Castle has things other than the play area that would interest a two year old?

is that at Bedgebury Squiffy? I loved the play trail there

Yes, I was referring to King's Wood

I wouldn't recommend Leeds Castle for a 2 YO if you only have a 2 YO. My 2YO DD goes with my DS (4.6) and has fun, but no more fun than at a park. There is the falconry though, if you think yours might be interested, and it is worth watching out for the special events that would be suitable (they had a hot balloon weekend a few weeks back for example, but I can't say if DD enjoyed it because it was on a wickedly cold day so I wimped out!)

I may have to check out Kings Wood, sounds lovely, shouldn't be too far for me to go(in Maidstone) dd is nearly 4 and loves exploring.

Another vote for Bradgate Park

Kings wood sounds brilliant! ( I live on Greenwich/Bexley borders so not too far away).

MY children (and I think most other children given the chance) like adventure playgrounds and back to nature fun on beaches and woods etc are fun. I don't think it's an either/or issue. Both are great fun.

Incidently, have you considered that some parents whoe don't have a garden for their children may actively seek out attractions with large adventure playgrounds? I know I did, when we did not have a garden and I had a very active 4 year old.

I don't understand why a Childrens Playground would ruin your enjoyment of an attraction OP. What is that bothers you? All the laughing and fun? Do agree that placement in important though. Should be at the end because it is irritating if DC see it first and then bang on and on about all through the trip till you are sprinting to get there by the end just to shut them up.

Kings wood is sooooo cool, although it is quite a long trek for the younger ones, we went once with DD and it was a bit of a battle with the pushchair, she wont use her pushchair now so we will wait a year or so before taking her. The "art" is amazing though, you sort of have to look for it but its great, im not much ofa modern art or sculpture lover but these are so organic and blend into the environment really well - fascinating. I think the guy from the pogues has gone all arty and made an installation there that is based on a HUGE grammerphone speaker (cant think what they are called) and it apparently amplifies a drip of water (it is much better than it sounds ), ive only seen it on telly and couldnt find it last time we visited - but as i said it IS a long walk to do the whole circular walk, but you dont have to, the picnic area is great with lots of sculptures for the kids to climb on, without the obligatory slides and swings.

DP and I used to go there with the dog - in LBL (life before lucy!) and it was a great, long long walk - we got lost once and was there 5 hours!!! Stick to the trail

Must do Kings Wood, have heard it recommended so many times
OP - stick to the National Trust, which, apart from some very tasteful and discreet woodland trails, has eschewed such vulgarities as areas for the younger children in the party to romp about. Knole, where being chased by ravenous and fearless deer is as exciting as it gets, is a good example. At Ightham they also look askance at any child of any age visibly enjoying itself on the lawn in front of the moat .
I agree it is nice to have the choice, and we tend to prefer the less gussied-up venues in the South East.
But all the independent castles in Kent have this sort of play area have invested in them because they need to attract a diverse clientele and they are also looking for families for whom history stuff is not the main attraction. Why do you think they pack the schedules with hot air ballooning, hog roasts, ludicrously expensive concert picnics etc...

My mum likes those play areas.
She says they siphon off The Element

I leave you to interpret (and/or be outraged, as you like ).

I bet your mother's all-time favourite historic "house" in Kent would be the deserted heap of boulders that is Kit's Coty bink .
The EH Handbook entry for that is almost sarcastically minimalist IIRC "usually open" "not tenanted" "no public conveniences" "no refreshments".
It is the austere antithesis of the latter-day Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens that is Hever, Leeds Castle et al

lovely. A propos - have you ever seen post-war tourist guides (to, eg, London): "National Gallery. No toilets."

My dad has a stained and battered 1950 FUAJ (French YHA) handbook which he has painstakingly annotated with "gone" "bombed" etc. It is almost impossible to imagine what London and any big, bombed city in Europe must have been like to live in at that time. Leaves on the line my foot
Mind you, he can hardly blame the Germans with a clear conscience. This is the man who, with an accomplice, chopped down the privy at a remote Scottish youth hostel while overwintering in 1954, as they had run out of firewood.
Then they brazenly told their first hosteller, a fastidious American lady, that it had "fallen into the swamp". They were finally relieved of their post when the other chap was caught poaching

(Has your dad done memoirs (he sounds like a raconteur ...)? As I recall, our fathers are similar age (mine is 82 this year) and I so much wish he would write something that I had a dream about it. He is too darned modest though - he doesn't think anyone would be interested in being sent from Burma to boarding school aged 4.)

I'm with you LB. They're ubiquitous.

I'm always disappointed with them because you can have a really nice culturally rich experience with children stretching their imaginations and having a different experience .... then it's back to ubiquitous burger infested, mind numbing, Lord of the Flies playground.

It has ruined many a trip out for me.

Agree totally bink. These modest old beatniks won't be pinned down in writing, will they . Without being famous, or glamorous, or well-educated (formally at any rate), my father has lived an adventurous, unconventional and colourful life. And yes, he is 84. So was just old enough to be at D-Day etc.

big day of our annual holiday was Monkey World, there is a playground right at the beginning (and end, same difference) no looking at monkeys, just straight to playground