Belton House Adventure Playground

If you’re heading to Belton House for the gardens and end up spending three hours at the playground instead, don’t say you weren’t warned. The adventure setup is seriously well-kitted out — slides, climbing frames, tunnels, a merry-go-round, a play train, and a seesaw that actually gets used rather than standing there looking sad. It sits right on the edge of the woodland, so there’s proper shade in summer and that slightly magical feel of trees all around. The lake and walking paths mean you can stretch the day out properly once the kids have burned through their energy, and with parking and loos on site, it’s genuinely easy to make a full afternoon of it.