I visited the world's biggest play structure at Lilidorei, located at The Alnwick Garden in Northumberland.
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00:00Recently I took a trip with my son to Lily Dory located at the Annick Garden in Northumberland
00:06which is widely known as the world's largest play structure and it's also considered the biggest in
00:12Europe. We were staying at Amble which was a nine mile or 20 minute car journey away. When we got
00:19there we parked up at the specific car park which cost £3.50. When you get there it's really
00:25impressive. You've got this massive gate. You actually don't go in through there. You go in
00:29through a little tunnel which opens up and you see the massive play structure. There's also very
00:34Disney-esque food available from a little tiny elf's cabin that you've got to crouch down and
00:41order through a little gap in the hole in. And yeah my seven-year-old son was in his element there.
00:49There's all kinds of slides, walkways, things to climb on, spin around and you can sit in these
00:56like baubles. There's a massive sandpit area. There's things you can hold on to and spin around
01:03like a kind of a variation on a roundabout. It's a fantastic place to go and really really clean
01:10and there's staff everywhere. The wider area actually isn't that big which confused me because I was
01:17expecting it to be a much bigger area. It's not. It's quite compact but you walk around all these
01:22tree-lined paths and you come to all these kind of like hobbit or elf or fairy homes. You can look
01:29through. That's what one of them looks like. There's a little place where you can get some slush,
01:34some refreshments area. There's a place I think where stories take place. To me as an adult that area
01:42was a bit boring in comparison to the massive play area. But there were people running around
01:49you know in character trying to make it fun. On the way out we called past this enormous tree house
01:58which has got like a pub restaurant inside it and a walkway. Sadly the walkway was closed that day and
02:06we didn't stay for the restaurant. We wanted to go to the cafe at Annick Gardens. But the menu
02:13looked really quite fancy inside the tree house and I imagine it's quite an experience.
02:19We had combined tickets so we could go in Lily Dory and then the gardens which for two adults and a
02:25child cost just over £60. I've got to say the gardens, I didn't know what to expect, were amazing.
02:32It's all kind of focused around this enormous fountain waterfall area and there's things for
02:41the children. There's like little mini tractors that you can go up and down the slope on. The
02:45formal gardens at the top are fantastic. There's a cafe which has got some wonderful products in it
02:52and on a sunny day like it was when we went we could just sit outside, take it all in. There's a gift
02:58sharp, there's mini golf which we did do, there's a poison garden. You do have to pay extra for that
03:03and it's I think every half an hour which so we didn't do that. You can walk to Annick Castle. There
03:08is a separate price for that. We didn't go in because my son wasn't that interested and it was
03:13quite expensive. But do you know what? Overall it was one of the best places I have been to recently.
03:21Certainly something that you should go to if you've got children, if you're on your own. I don't think
03:26you can take dogs in but if you're up in the northeast, you know you live there, you're
03:31taking a break there, check this place out.