With some unexpected sunshine we decided to try a new park, and settled on walking around Thornes Park, just outside Wakefield city centre. It’s the perfect place to get some fresh air after a shopping trip! Here are the top things to enjoy.

The Pub

Ok, I might be an advocate for the outdoors, but I’m definitely not immune to the charms of the great Holmfield Arms. Food is good and decent value (it’s a Greene King pub). It’s child friendly and has a fab beer garden (complete with small play area) for those summer days!

The play areas

A toddler play ground is separate to the larger area so bigger kids wont sit on your little ones. For older children, there are some good climbing stones and two long slides.

The viewpoint

Climbing the hill in the park centre gives great views across Wakefield city centre.

The aviary

I love parks with an aviary, Jess loves looking at all the birds, and this one is clean bright and airy.

The park walk

At the end of the day this is a nice park! It’s about 2 miles around the perimeter… with fitness obstacles as you go if you fancy it. The route takes you past the duck lake, which was twice the size as usual with all this rain!
And in brighter months you can look forward to seeing the rose garden and finish by enjoying the miniature railway (operating in summer only for 50p a ride).

The useful bits

The paths marked on the map are surfaced, perfect for buggy walkers! The path up to the hill and viewpoint is partly surfaced and I reckon in the summer on a dry day you could get a buggy up. But it’s a complete bog at the moment so don’t try it in wet weather!

Parking is free! We parked at the stadium car park, and walked towards the Wakefield college buildings then down to the duck lake.

There’s a cafe too if pubs aren’t your thing.

This is just up the road from Pugneys, so you could easily combine them for a full day out… or travel a little further to Newmillerdam or Anglers.