Family summer fun at Seaton Delaval Hall

Summer of Play: daily activities

• Delaval Dash Races in the East Paddock

  Challenge your friends and family to some good old fashioned races! We've got hobby horse racing, sack racing, animal hoppers, welly wanging and more! Don't forget to get your snaps on the champions' podium at the end.

• Garden Games in the Secret Garden

  Little legs will especially love this area, filled with giant garden versions of all the classics: snakes & ladders, skittles, tower block building, four in a row and swingball.

• Play Zone in the South East Gardens and Oval

  Head into the South East Gardens to create your own musical jam with the junk orchestra. Carry on down into the Oval for a game of table tennis or badminton, test out your basketball skills and try some yoga poses. When you've tired yourself out, chill out on the giant beanbags beneath the Tent of Wonder.

• Team Games and more on the South Lawn

  We've a chest filled with sports equipment of varying sizes so you can enjoy a game of tennis, cricket, football, rugby, rounders and more and the goal posts are out too!

  At the bottom of the lawn you can enjoy climbing on the Haybale Scramble with fabulous views out into the landscape, and find your way in and out of the grass maze.

Summer of Play: pop-up activities

• Let's Circus

  Fridays, 12-4pm

  South Lawn Circus Tent

  SDH favourites, Let's Circus, are back for the summer! Enjoy drop-in circus skills, have a go sessions and mini shows from the region's leading circus agency.

• Curious Arts presents Pop-Up Family Pride

  Monday 18 August

  Enjoy a day of fun-packed, creative activities for all the family, celebrating everything that’s colourful and unique about families.

• Wrongsemble theatre presents Breadcrumbs

  Wednesday 30 July & Wednesday 13 August, 2pm

  South Lawn, Imaginarium stage

  Hansel and Gretel argue about everything: who's the loudest, the fastest, and how they ended up lost in the forest one day?! But with only a trail of breadcrumbs to guide them home, they'll have to put aside their differences to make it home in time for tea!

  This brand new family show is packed full of music, magic and puppetry from Wrongsemble celebrates how even the simplest story can become the wildest fairytale in the hands of the right storyteller!

• BubblePlaY

  Monday 28 July, Monday 11 August, Monday 25 August, 12-4pm

  South Lawn Circus Tent

  Enjoy pop-up visits from North East bubble specialists, BubblePlaY, the bubbliest entertainers around!

  Relive the joy of childhood with Bubble Play—full of shimmering bubbles that float, bounce, and even dance! Chase, catch, and pop bubbles of all shapes and sizes. Enjoy giant bubbles and tricks from BubblePlaY’s bubbleologists, fun for the whole family.

• Meet the Monster Circus and have-a-go with puppeteer, Georgia Hill

  Wednesday 23 July, 12-4pm

  South Lawn

  Roll up to meet the Monster Circus! Each of Georgia’s friendly monster puppet possesses the ability to perform a circus act. Your job is to become the puppeteers and bring the circus to life!

  Can you tell jokes like a clown? Can you work as a team to make the monster juggle? Or dare to make the puppet walk the tightrope?

  Drop in to play, perform and explore the art of puppetry with puppet designer/maker, Georgia Hill, then make your own sock puppet with puppeteer, Chloe Paterson.

• The Flycycle and Submercycle by PifPaf

  Monday 21 July, 12 - 2:45pm

  Roaming

  Come aboard the travelling machines, the Submercycle and the Flycycle. Choose a companion, find your departure lounge and let us take you on a magical journey!

• Young Gardeners

  Fridays, 10:30am-12:30pm

  Community Kitchen Garden

  Get back to nature every Friday as part of Summer of Play with Young Gardeners, packed full of gardening, crafting and relaxing activities as well as plenty of nature-based stories for all the family to enjoy. You do not need to pay admission to the full Seaton Delaval Hall site to enjoy Young Gardeners. Just turn up and enjoy getting muddy free of charge!

  Weekly Young Gardeners craft activities:

  25th July: fork flowers

  1st August: spray bottle art

  8th August: egg box bird feeders

  15th August: tissue paper flowers

  22nd August: build your own bug hotel

  29th August: bottle laterns

• Comedy Capers

  Monday 4 August, 12-4pm

  South Lawn Circus Tent

  Enjoy family style comedy and mischief from our favourite local comedians including Lee Kyle and more.

• Dave Tale Teller & Paul Martin: Folk Tales and live music

  Wednesday 20 August 12-4pm

  South Lawn Circus Tent

  David is a local author, folklorist, storyteller and collector of all things strange, uncanny and magical. He brings tales from across the North East revealing not the land we know, but a land filled with dragons, witches and wizards, wicked goblins, ghosts, fairies and giants!

• Storytelling with Chris Bostock

  Wednesday 6 & Wednesday 27 August, 12-4pm

  South Lawn Circus Tent

  Chris is a professional storyteller and theatre worker who tells traditional tales from many different cultures, to listeners of all ages. His stories are chosen to entertain, excite and encourage listeners to dream with open eyes.... and then to become storytellers themselves. Enjoy stories with a few magic tricks for good measure!

• Delaval Playdium play area

  The Delaval Playdium is inspired by the Delavals' love of theatricality, incorporating theatre mechanics, hidden thunderclaps and rain cloud sounds, and 'flats' (blackboard scenery – bring your chalks and create your own masterpiece) alongside traditional play elements such as swings and basket swings.

  This bespoke play area also features a centrepiece stage, plus rope walk, slide and scramble net.

• Mirror Mirror

  Many a Delaval prank was thought to have been made possible by the use of mirrors and visual trickery to surprise, confuse and delight their guests in their Georgian heyday.

  Our fully accessible Mirror Cube and Dark Matter Cube, the latter of which is surrounded by pleached lime trees – perfect for a family game of surprise.

• Sounds good

  Take a wander along the central path through the South East Gardens and down along the hawthorn crinkle-crankle hedge... is someone speaking to you?

  See if you can find where the message is coming from.

• Discover the Basement

  The area around the hall was known for coal mining, the Royal Hartley Bottleworks and a busy shipping industry. Down here you can discover the industries that gave the Delavals their wealth, with one or two surprises!

• Through the keyhole

  Don't forget to take a look through the keyholes in the upstairs corridor in the West Wing. If there's a tag hanging from the door handle get up close and have a look through the keyhole... you may get a surprise!

• Play the Game of Seaton Delaval Hall

  Visit the Drawing Room and delve into the stories of the Hall in the giant Game of Seaton Delaval Hall. While away an afternoon discovering more about the Delavals in this exciting game and see if you can beat your friends and family to reaching the present day in the hall’s story!

• Visit the Upside Down Room

  Are your eyes deceiving you? See one of the most famous Delaval pranks recreated in the 21st century in the West Wing. Take your selfies in the Upside Down Room (throw your hands in the air, take your pic and then turn it upside down to look like you’re hanging from the ceiling) then see if you can work out what’s lurking underneath the bed in the Bird Bedroom. Ask our guides to tell you the story of the Delaval pranks that inspired them.

• Take part in the Grand Finale in the Old Kitchen

  The Delavals loved a show and once even closed the Houses of Parliament so that sitting MPs could get to the theatre to see one of their performances! Now’s your chance to follow in their footsteps and take to the stage. Maybe you’ve learnt a new dance routine or song; whatever it is, jump on and give us your best!

• No. 4: Build a den

  In the North West Woods, home of the Delaval Playdium, you can also find a host of trees and branches where you can build your own little hideaway den. Grab sticks lying on the ground and get creative!

• No.7: Fly A Kite

  The South Lawn is the perfect place to fly your kite. A big, open space, a bit of a wind tunnel and views across the wider estate to boot! Bring your kite and see how high it'll go!

• No. 18: Create Some Wild Art

  Are you the next Andy Goldworthy? Gather leaves, twigs, pebbles or petals and create your best artwork. Why not share it with us? Tag us on Instagram @seatondelavalhallnt. Please don't pick anything, though - there's plenty to forage that's fallen on the ground already!

• No. 31: Make Friends With a Bug

  You don't have to look very far for bugs around the grounds. Have a wander in the Arboretum near the Church of Our Lady, get down on your knees and see what you can find!

• No. 33: Go Cloud Watching

  The Oval at the end of the South East Gardens is the perfect spot to watch the clouds go by. Grab a spot, lie down and look up!