Cycling

Family-Friendly Cycle Routes Across the UK

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Forest Of Dean Family Cycling Trail

Introduction:

Cycling is a fantastic way for families to spend quality time together while staying active and healthy. The UK has a plethora of cycle routes suitable for all ages, from gentle rides in scenic locations to more challenging trails. In this blog post, we’ll highlight some of the best family-friendly cycle routes across the UK, detailing their age suitability, difficulty level, location, and access points.

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Teaching a child how to ride a balance bike

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A balance bike is a great way to teach your child how to ride a bike. Unlike traditional bikes with training wheels, balance bikes teach children to balance and steer using their own body weight.

Balance bikes are designed for children to learn how to balance on two wheels before adding the complexity of pedals. This blog post will go through the key steps, what to expect, and potential challenges you may encounter when getting your child started on a balance bike.

Here are some key steps to take to get your child started on a balance bike.

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Wentworth Woodhouse For Families Review

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Wentworth Woodhouse is a magnificent historic mansion located in the village of Wentworth, South Yorkshire, England. The house, which is the largest privately owned residence in the United Kingdom, was built in the 18th century and has a rich history. It was once the seat of the Earls Fitzwilliam, a powerful and influential family in the region. Today, Wentworth Woodhouse is open to the public, and it is a great place to visit for a number of reasons.

First and foremost, Wentworth Woodhouse is a stunning architectural masterpiece. The house was designed in the Palladian style, which is characterised by symmetry, balance, and proportion. The mansion is set on a sprawling estate that includes over 60 acres of gardens and parkland, making it a beautiful and serene place to visit. The house itself is over 500 feet long, making it one of the longest country houses in Europe. It has over 300 rooms, including a grand entrance hall, a library, a dining room, and a ballroom. The house is adorned with ornate plasterwork, marble fireplaces, and intricate wood carvings, making it a true feast for the eyes.

In addition to its architectural beauty, Wentworth Woodhouse also has a rich history that adds to its appeal. The house was built in the 1730s for Thomas Watson-Wentworth, the 1st Marquess of Rockingham. The house passed through several generations of the Watson-Wentworth family, who were prominent figures in the region. In the 19th century, the house was inherited by the 5th Earl Fitzwilliam, who made significant renovations to the house and grounds. The house was used as a military hospital during both World War I and World War II, and it was later sold to the National Coal Board. In the 1990s, the house was sold to a private company, which has since restored it to its former glory.

We visited Wentworth Woodhouse over the Christmas/New Year period on a beautiful crisp day. There is plenty to explore and do for children of all ages and we really enjoyed our time within the house.

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Teaching a child how to ride a bike

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Teaching a child how to ride a bike is a fun and rewarding experience that can provide many benefits for their physical, cognitive, and social development. Our daughter Matilda was a relatively early cyclist at just 4 years old and we went through a number of steps to make sure she was able to ride her bike and become a competent cyclist.

Helping a child learn how to ride a bike can open doors to so many wonderful opportunities. Not only is it a great skill to have but it also enables you as a family to build social activities around cycling.

This is what we now do and not only has this completely changed how we plan our weekends it also means we are looking after the health of our children as they grow and develop.

Before jumping on a bike there were a number of initial steps to familiarise our daughter with the life of cycling. This is something we’ve continued with our son. 

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Dalby Forest Cycling for families

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Dalby Forest, in the heart of the North York Moors National Park. It’s over 8,500 acres in size and has everything you can want in a wonderful family day out. We visited in the warmer months with our at the time 5-year-old and 1-year-old to sample the cycle routes. I must add it’s an all-encompassing experience which is suitable for those with or without bikes.

From a cycling perspective, it’s geared towards all ability levels with over six cycling trails ranging from family (beginner) routes to advanced mountain biking trails (not for the faint-hearted)

There’s also a cycle skills area where those of varying ability levels can test their ability to determine which route is right for them. It’s great enjoyment for the kids too.

At the time of writing, we have visited Dalby Forest twice and given the expanse nature of this review, will be updated regularly with new information and pictures so stick with us!

We took the Adderstone cycle trail as this was the Green route (suitable for novice cyclists) which with a baby seat and a 5-year-old cycling solo felt like the correct route.

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Skirlaugh to Sutton Village Cycling for families (Trans Pennine Trail)

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Skirlaugh is a village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, in an area known as Holderness. It is situated approximately 7 miles northeast of Hull city centre on the A165 road. Originally a farming community, it is now primarily a commuter village for Hull.

We had the pleasure of recently staying in Willow Pastures Country Park in Skirlaugh which is a small holiday lodge site. One of the draws to the lodge park was its proximity to the Trans Pennine Trail. They weren’t lying. The Trans Pennine route is flat and incredibly family-friendly with the majority of the route being on non-car routes.

You can actually travel in two directions. One is towards Hull City centre (approximately 8 miles) while the other takes you to the coastal region of Hornsea. We chose the route towards Hull City Centre but stopped at the village of Sutton. As you can see from the map below the village is in fantastic proximity to the trail. (In the green).

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Haw Park Wood cycling for families

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Haw Park Wood is situated 4 miles southeast of Wakefield. It’s located next to Anglers country park but can be accessed from both the Anglers country park side or alternatively via Waterton Park hotel. From the hotel, you can access the Trans Pennine trail Barnsley canal route which takes you to Haw Park Wood if you follow signs for Anglers country park.

Haw Park Wood is designated as a local nature reserve and is home to a variety of wildlife including Roe Deer, Crossbill and Great-Crested Newt and important plant species such as the Wild Service Tree.

Although small it’s a fantastic protected place for young children to practice cycling or as a family route if you venture from either the Walton or Anglers country park entrances.
You can actually combine both Haw Park Wood & Anglers Country Park if you utilise the car parking facilities as Anglers. 

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Anglers Country Park cycling for families

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Anglers Country Park is an award-winning Green Flag destination where you can explore the unspoiled countryside, woodland, wetland and trails.

Anglers Country Park is in Wintersett, Wakefield. Once known as one of the deepest open cast coal mines, Anglers has since been transformed into a park which welcomes thousands of visitors a month. It has also flourished into a beautiful haven for wildlife including many migratory birds making it a perfect place to visit whether you are in or from the surrounding area.

We love Anglers because it has a central lake with a 2-mile trail around the edges. It’s a perfect place to cycle with small children as the terrain is flat and child safe. There’s also a Room on the broom trail as well as a playpark for the kids. Parking is completely free for the first two hours but living in Sandal we are able to travel to Anglers on the old Barnsley canal path.

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Leeds Urban Bike Park Cycling Review For Families

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Leeds Urban Bike Park is a gem of a project by Leeds council, the lottery funded and British Cycling & Sports England. At the top part of Middleton park is a mountain bike trail centre and BMX Track, a bike shop with a workshop and a cafe. The bike park consists of multiple different trails across all difficulty levels.

It’s incredibly family-friendly and is suitable for all ages. Best of all it’s completely free of charge. It connects nicely with the wider Middleton park meaning you can enjoy the facilities available including kids park and much more.

It’s run as a community project meaning it’s not for profit. Parking and the bike park are completely free but you can support them by purchasing items in the bike store or in the cafe.

There’s an abundance of courses and circuits that continue into the woodland. Our daughter absolutely loved it and we could have stayed for hours. Even for non-riders Middleton park has plenty of walking trails for you to enjoy.

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Pugneys Country Park cycling for families

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Pugneys Country Park is a 250-acre park located on the A636 between Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England and Junction 39 of the M1 motorway. It is a Local Nature Reserve. The area was developed from a former opencast mine and a sand and gravel quarry and was opened to the public in 1985.

As residents of Sandal, we live close to Pugneys park, meaning we’ve visited quite frequently over the years. Best of all it’s accessible via bike for those who live in the local area. If you live in Sandal you can take the route down Milnthorpe Lane and past the Farm that the Castle overlooks. From here you can pick up a public footpath route to Pugneys.

If you are not local it’s still a wonderful place to visit. With watersports, a children’s play area, a cafe and a miniature railway there’s plenty to keep you entertained for the whole day.

Best of all it’s cycle friendly and with a 1.6-mile flat gravel loop around the lake, it’s very much possible for children of all ages to enjoy.

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