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The spring sunshine was out in full force today, which seemed to put Jess in a sunny mood as we visited Golden Acre.

This is one of the walk suggestions on the 2020 Muddy Boots Family Challenge, where families are encouraged to complete a different Yorkshire walk every month!

Distance: 5.5k (can do shorter- just stick to the Golden Acre Park circular)

Accessibility: this route is buggy-friendly but not surfaced all the way round so can get rather muddy after wet weather.

Facilities: Cafe and toilets. Two decent car parks. Picnic benches.

Route: In summary an easy lap round Golden Acre adding on the path to Paul’s Pond- read below for a better description!

We parked at the car park off Arthington Road to start our walk, heading clockwise into the woodland. A map of Golden Acre is here.

Start the walk on this path.

The path soon enters a small woodland area. Jess got very excited to start walking through trees, and decided to give them all cuddles 😂😂. So we spent a good 20 minutes going about 50 meters.

Leaving the woodland we came across an odd little circle of tree stumps, obviously Jess had to try sitting on them all.

We followed the path through the gorgeous tree lined path at the top of the park that leads back to the cafe and toilets. It’s so peaceful in this part of the park, we felt as though we had the whole place to ourselves!

The walk to Paul’s Pond

From the cafe head through the underpass as though you’re going to the car park on Leeds road. Before the slope up to the car park there’s a path off to the left with green railings, follow this through the woodland to reach Paul’s Pond. It’s a gorgeous little walk, again it’s much quieter than the main paths of Golden Acre and extremely pretty! A highlight for Jess was the little ford. She must’ve gone back and forth at least twenty times.

Before long we reached Paul’s Pond, where the path laps round and we stopped for a snack. We sat a little back from the pond, the swans looked a little keen when we started unwrapping sandwiches!

Once round the pond, return to Leeds Road on the path that you came in on to re-enter Golden Acre. The paths get a little busier as you head past the picnic area to the Lake. We briefly stopped to watch the ducks before continuing on the path, looping round the lake.

It’s possible to visit Adel Dam Nature Reserve here, a beautiful spot if you have the time! It’s possible to take a buggy round here if you stick to the main path.

The path back to the car park is beautiful – full of cherry blossoms 😍😍. It was a touch too early for some trees but we still saw lots of colour! Be warned if you’re pushing a buggy- the path is deceptively steep (or maybe my 31 week bump just was slowing me down).

We couldn’t have chosen a lovelier day to have visited here, Jess was on great form and we spent about 3 hours walking round. Obviously that’s including two picnic stops! It went down well with Jess too; getting back to the car she said she wanted to go round again! So so good to hear ☺️☺️

Rachel xxx

Addition: Jess came home and asked to go for a nap. I woke her up 90 minutes later, she was still knackered and just cuddled into me on the sofa until tea time. A winning day all round really!