Family-friendly things to do at Fell Foot

Little girl smelling the daffodils at Fell Foot, Cumbria — Keep an eye out for the daffodils springing up on the lawn at Fell Foot | © National Trust Images/Chris Lacey

If you’re looking for some open space to play games and run off steam, a top spot for wildlife spotting and stone skimming or a great place for dog walking with a cafe, there’s plenty to keep everyone happy during a visit to Fell Foot.

Planning your family visit

Here is the information you need at a glance to help plan your day out at Fell Foot:

Toilets with baby-changing facilities can be found in the main car park, next to the café, and in the Active Base. There is a Changing Places facility in the boathouse adjoining the café.
The play area is near the south car park.
Paths are pushchair friendly.
The access statement gives more detail about accessibility across the site.
Highchairs and children's 'pick and mix' lunch boxes are available in the café.
There are picnic benches around the park and tables and benches outside the café.

Spring adventures

For a mini outdoor adventure the lakeshore park at Fell Foot is the place to visit. The orienteering courses offer navigation challenges and there’s a play area with swings and climbing frames.

The short loop is an accessible walk around the lakeshore and park which is great for buggies, pushchairs and toddlers on balance bikes. You can borrow a balance bike and wellies from the welcome hut when it is open. Treat yourself afterwards with a hot chocolate in the café.

Family activities at Fell Foot

Orienteering is a fun and exciting adventure challenge for all ages. It involves finding checkpoints by reading a map and navigating. Your task is to explore the park and find the marked posts.

We have four orienteering courses at Fell Foot created in collaboration with Lakeland Orienteering Club.

If you’ve never tried orienteering before, then VENTURE is perfect for you. This short course guides you around the paths of the park with checkpoints close to the paths. This course is also accessible to those travelling on wheels. This course is 0.5km long.

The next step up is QUEST with checkpoints close to line features such as paths, walls, fences and the lakeshore. You can use the line features to help you to find your way or you might choose a more direct route between checkpoints to get there more quickly. This course is 0.9km long.

CHALLENGE offers more of a navigational challenge. If you have orienteered before, you will enjoy reading the map to zig-zag across the park to find the checkpoints. These courses are longer and need you to make more decisions about the route you take between checkpoints. This course is 1.9km long.

TRAILBLAZER requires you to plan your own route to find as many checkpoints as you can in any order. This is usually a race against the clock. You could use your own stopwatch or record your course using the Maprun app. You have 30 minutes to blaze your trail!

Find out more and download a trail map via Lakeland Orienteering Club.

Playhouse and slide at Fell Foot playground | © S Hunter

Exploring Fell Foot

At the south end of the park is the meadow. From here, you can see where the lake turns into the River Leven. It is a quieter space than the main park area.

This open field is at it's most attractive in early summer with long grass and colourful wildflowers and a mown path to follow. In late summer the grass is mown and used for animal feed. For a couple of weeks in autumn it offers grazing for our Albion cattle.

‘50 things to do before you’re 11¾’

Enjoy the great outdoors and get closer to nature with our ‘50 things’ list of activities for young adventurers. There are plenty to tick off here at Fell Foot; make your own list or try a few of our suggestions to ge you started: