We are always looking or ways to keep the kids entertained in and around Staffordshire. Carden Park Country Estate is in Cheshire, near to Chester and just under an hour away from Staffordshire. Carden Park 1000 acre Estate is the perfect place for a getaway, offering a world class spa, championship golf courses, gourmet dining experiences, hotel breaks and amazing family friendly activities. If you are looking for things to do in and around Chester with kids, let me tell you all about Carden Park for families.
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Carden Park for Families
Carden Park has some great packages available all year round with various organised activities on offer for children of all ages.
You will find spacious family rooms with savings on multiple night getaways. For overnight guests there are a number of free activities on offer, including use of the indoor swimming pool, various walks, indoor games and a cinema room (selected dates only).
Carden Park Family Activities
We lived in Chester for a few years, and we often take the kids back for a family day out in Chester. There are some awesome campsites and glamping sites in and around Chester too. I have always known that Carden Park is an incredible place to visit – I mean – I LOVE a spa day and the Spa at Carden Park offers an incredible spa experience dedicated to your mind, body and soul.
(You may also love to check out our best Spa days in nearby Staffordshire).
What I didn’t realise until we visited was how incredible Carden Park is for families. Whether you are looking for a luxury weekend break, or are just passing through for the day, then Carden Park has it all.
There are so many amazing family friendly activities on offer here available for both adults and children.
Family activities available at Carden Park ( *additional cost):
- Vertigo aerial adventure course featuring a dual zip line.
- Tour the estate on Segways
- Try your hand at archery or rifle shooting
- Zoom through the trees on mini quads
- Laser clay challenge
- Climbing wall (selected dates only)
- Hire tennis rackets and bicycles.
We had a fun filled day planned and we were booked onto the Vertigo aerial adventure course, Segways, mini quads and archery.
On Arrival we parked on carpark 2 outside the Outdoor Pursuits Centre and just past Carden Park Spa. Parking is free and I managed to park in an electric charging parking space to charge the car whilst we were enjoying the outdoor activities.
Vertigo
We were warmly greeted at the reception desk, and checked in for the first activity – Vertigo. Abi was our instructor throughout the day and she was absolutely brilliant – warm, friendly, patient, and great with the kids. Vertigo is an aerial trek offering a number of challenges finishing with a glide down a 210m zip line.
The minimum height for Vertigo is 1.3 metres and it is for adventurers over 6 years old. All three children loved this from start to finish. Our 7 year old raced around and even managed a challenge or two that Abi had set him!
Archery
I have never been very good at archery, but the kids were honestly amazing!! Archery includes a one-to-one tuition on how to use our traditional longbows followed by a head-to-head competition to see who can score gold, or a balloon or two. Again, Abi our instructor was amazing and as a result, the kids smashed it! But who do you think won in the Otis and Us household that is the question!?
This activity is only suitable for adventurers over 7 years old.
Mini Quads
After some tuition from the team, it was time for our youngest two adventures to jump on the mini quads for some mud flinging, wheel spinning action. After a short safety briefing, the kids set about winding about the multi purpose built mini quad track, before heading out around the Carden Park Estate. Honestly I think this may have been one of their all time favourite activities. They loved it and have already asked when they can go back for round 2.
This activity is for children ages 7-12 years old.
Segway Safari
A 1 hour Segway experience, zipping around the tracks and woodland of the 1000 acre Carden Park Estate. What a great hour too! Abi led the course and this started with a safety equipment and safety briefing before having a practice around the mini quad track. Once we got the hang of starting, stopping and turning, we headed out around the stunning Carden Park Estate.
This activity is for participants aged 10+ only. It is absolutely brilliant and we had so much fun.
Family-friendly restaurants at Carden Park
There are a number of dining menus with family favourite meals in Redmond’s Brasserie and freshly prepared light-bites in Morgan’s Bar. We had a bite to eat at Morgan’s bar after our Vertigo experience. Morgan’s bar offers scrumptious food and drinks including breakfast and pastries, speciality sandwiches, traditional sandwiches and salads. There are a selection of hot and cold drinks, cocktails and cakes too.
We headed to our table following the Vertigo aerial adventure course and it was a perfect place to stop, regroup, and refuel before an afternoon of more adventures. The youngest children ordered bento boxes with a selection of sandwiches, salad, fruit and a chocolate brownie. Our eldest had a fish finger sandwich on sourdough, and they all finished with a hot chocolate and fresh cream.
There are also plenty of vegetarian options and the spiced hummus and I can highly recommend the spiced hummus and sliced avocado on toasted sourdough!
Carden Park – A perfect day out with kids
Honestly we had the best day out as a family. The activities on offer were perfect and it was the first family day out in a long time that catered for all age groups and left everyone happy! We also loved the down time after the activities in the Sports pursuit centre where we tried our hand at table tennis, pool, table top football and giant connect four.
The team on duty when we visited were wonderful too, patient, friendly, and fun and they all worked together great as a team too. If you are looking for a fun filled day out with the kids in Cheshire, then definitely head to Carden Park Estate.
Thank you for a wonderful day – we will definitely be back.
For more information and to book your family friendly activities at Carden Park, Cheshire.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. Should you click to purchase, this is at no extra cost to you, but I receive a small commission. We were invited to Carden Park to try out the family friendly activities. All thoughts and images are my own.