Family Day Out: Grasshoppers Play Area at Tong Garden Centre

A few weeks back we spent the morning at Grasshoppers play area at Tong Garden Centre in Bradford. We've been before, but Tommy who is now 2.5 year old was probably a little too young to fully enjoy it. Plus we had gone on a very hot Saturday, so as you can imagine it was extremely busy. This time however it was mid-week and overcast. We went early in the day to avoid the crowds and it was just perfect. He had a brilliant time.

Grasshoppers is an outdoor play area which is attached to a lovely garden centre. There's a playground with slide, swings and climbing frame, a huge sandpit with water trays and giant bouncing pillow.

Since we'd gone at a time when it wasn't over crowded Tommy was free to play in the different play areas without fear of older children knocking him over, particularly on the bouncing pillow. The baby even got to have a little go 😄.

If your kids love playing with water and sand don't forget your bucket and spade. We got lucky and another parent let Tommy play with their's while their own child played elsewhere. Tommy loved that he got to control the water and of course pour it all out again.

Kids can also drive around the race tracks or play on the diggers for a small fee.

I've since learnt that they now allow picnics to be taken into the play area. There is a cafe if you want to buy a bite to eat or enjoy some award-winning Yorkshire dairy ice cream. However if you're looking to keep your visit on the cheaper side and don't want to be restricted to only staying for a couple of hours, it's fantastic that you can now take your own food in.

Once we finished at the play area we headed down the road to Goodalls of Tong ice-cream parlour which is at Manor Farm, Tong Lane, Bradford BD4 0RP. 

There are a few animals you can go see including sheep, donkeys and llamas. 

They also have a small play area which is perfect toddlers. There's nothing that's too big for them to climb on and what makes it more fun is it's all themed farming equipment that they've used.

Of course if you are going to head there, you can't leave without an ice-cream. You can even watch the ice-cream being made as you sit and enjoy yours. Your main problem will be which flavour you'll choose. One thing to remember though is some cash as they don't take card payments. We left disappointed on our first visit when we didn't have any cash on us and had to leave without enjoying an ice-cream. Of course that was soon rectified on out next visit there.