Belvoir Castle, Grounds And New Adventure Playground Review

Reviewed by Jenny Bray

Yesterday, on a lovely sunny and still fairly mild for the time of year autumn day, I went with my children to visit this castle. Firstly, this castle is very impressive when driving towards it and is visible from over a mile away due to it being at the top of a hill. This added to my children being excited to reach it as they’d spotted it a good few turnings before we actually got there.

Upon arrival there is a fairly sizable car park and also an overflow car park. There were people in the car park to guide you to empty spaces. Parking is payable at £1.20 an hour or £6 for all day. The ticket has a section which allows you to redeem £1.20 off a purchase in the Fuel Tank, Balloon Bar or Vale View. The main car park is by the entrance to the adventure playground, gardens and castle. The overflow car park is closer to the engine yard, which is a collection of a cafe, bar and several shops. It also has pop up shops (wooden shacks) on as a Christmas market at the moment, with items ranging from home made cards to clothes.

Once we’d put the parking ticket in the car, we joined the queue at the entrance of the castle and obtained our wristbands and map. As we started walking up the path, my children asked to go off to the right to the new adventure playground before heading towards the castle. The adventure playground is a large wooden playground which includes a big wooden ship and big wooden castle as well as a vehicle to sit on, a zip wire, an area for younger ones and plenty of benches for sitting to eat and drink. There are also some lovely smaller wooden carved seats and tables in one of the bench areas. There are two different areas with benches, of which the one below the main wooden castle and the bottom of the zipwire has a shack which sells drinks and snacks, I assume in warmer and busier times!

My children were more than happy to play in the play area for about an hour before I dragged them off to the rest of the site. There were quite a few children there and they were all entertained by it all. The adventure playground is open to access without purchasing full garden or castle tickets or access is given alongside garden or garden and castle tickets. Tickets for just this area are very reasonably priced at £4 per adult and £3 per child, with children under 4 free or a family ticket at £12 is valid for up to 2 adults and 3 children and it’s open from 10.30am until 5pm every day. I can see this being a huge hit with local families, especially as the warmer months hit next year. It’s a great outdoor play space. The only thing my children said could improve it would be the addition of a swing (if extra additions are planned as time goes on…)

The castle has been transformed for Christmas and has a Cinderella special running until 1st January 2023. Inside the castle are loads of festive decorations including many Christmas trees upon entry with multitudes of decorations on, carol singers and a Cinderella themed story as you move from room to room. There are several Cinderella characters and props and lots of glitter adorning the rooms, taking you through the famous story. These have been designed by award winning interior designer Charlotte Lloyd-Webber, who has done a fantastic job of making it seem magical and sparkly. I can see that many a child who is interested in fairytales, sparkles and glitter will thoroughly enjoy this before the time is up, as will the adults.

The inside of the castle is very grand. There are multiple rooms, some of which have artefacts which you can look at and read about and others you can enter a small part of the room and just admire the rest of the room. There are lots and lots of paintings of the various owners over the years and these are up across all areas of the castle. There is also a separate picture gallery room. There are also several original large tapestries on the walls. At the foot of the stairs there are full suits of armour and In the entrance, there are also multiple muskets and other metal battle items hanging on the walls. It was great to see the history in it all. As an example of how grand it is; there is a large church room with multiple pews within the castle as well as the many other rooms! On the way out there is a souvenir shop and tea rooms and there is currently a Santa’s Grotto. You can purchase Santa’s Grotto tickets and festive afternoon tea tickets in advance, which are extras.

Once we’d explored the castle, which actually took less time than all the external bits, we went to explore the gardens. My children were keen to find Lord Granby’s Cave, so we headed that way. The gardens are beautiful and there are different paths for different walks, which are highlighted by coloured arrows. There are various statues within the Rose Garden. We also discovered Tufa Grotto on the way to Lord Granby’s Cave. We didn’t venture further than that in the grounds as they then wanted to go back to the adventure playground, so we ventured back there. When the Cinderella Christmas special isn’t on you are able to purchase tickets to just explore the gardens without access to the castle, although it still includes access to the adventure playground.

Once done for the second time at the adventure playground, as it was also starting to get dark by this point, we headed to The Engine Yard before heading home. We looked around the shops, bought some chocolates from their chocolate shop; Cocoa Amore and wandered around the pop up Christmas market. We bought a couple of drinks and redeemed our car parking voucher, but found the prices to be quite expensive throughout this area so didn’t splash out on too much. The Engine Yard is currently also home to a synthetic ice rink, for which you can purchase 30 minutes of access at a time. There’s also a Santa’s Grotto there at the moment.

I hadn’t been feeling very festive until this trip, but it would be very hard to visit and not leave feeling festive. Many people had Christmas jumpers and hats on that were visiting. Elsewhere this would have felt excessive prior to even being in December, but immersed in the magic of the castle and all the decorations and sparkle, everyone looked right at home.

Upon checking out their website I could see that they also do activities during some of the school holidays.

It’s worth noting that the castle is at the top of a fairly sizable hill so walking to it would not be an option for people with mobility issues. However, there is the option for blue badge holders to drive right up to the castle entrance and park in order to be able to enjoy it.

If you plan to go with a baby, young child or children I would definitely recommend using a sling rather than attempting to take a pram up the hill and then having to carry your child/children up and down the stairs in the castle.

The grounds also looked like they’d be amazing to explore with dogs, although it was quite nice not to encounter any and to know that walking on leaves would not lead to accidentally stepping in anything smelly! Dogs, other than guide dogs are not allowed in the adventure playground area or within the castle.

If you’re not yet feeling festive about Christmas, I’d definitely recommend a visit to put you in the mood.

Rating: I rate it a very sparkly 4.5/5

All tickets for children under 4 are free.
Child tickets are classed as for children between the ages of 4 and 16.

Tickets for just the adventure playground are; Adult £4, Child £3, Family £12
Tickets for the Cinderella Christmas special, which include the castle and grounds are; Adult £24, Child £10 or a family ticket (up to 2 adults and 3 children) is £60.

Outside of the Cinderella Christmas special;
Tickets for just the gardens and adventure playground are; Adult £10, Child £5, Family £30,
Castle and garden entrance tickets, including the adventure playground are; Adult £18, Child £9, Family £49

More details can be found on their website, including the ability to purchase tickets in advance (recommended during the Cinderella Christmas special) from here; https://www.belvoircastle.com