Sunday 14 August 2016

An Adventure At Walltown Northumberland National Park

Two week's ago we were invited to Walltown Quarry situated within Northumberland National Park to celebrate National Parks week. To celebrate this week long event Walltown was turned into a two day Adventure Activity playground. I had never heard of Walltown before and I had no idea what to expect from the day of adventure, so I went with a totally open mind. 

Walltown quarry Lake Northumberland National Park UK

I took both my girls along ( aged 13 and 3) with me on the adventure to Walltown as they love being outdoors and having fun. Even though I had no idea where Walltown was I grew up in Northumberland and spent all of my childhood summers in Wooler, Northumberland as my grandparents had a holiday home there. I have such fond memories of exploring the Northumberland countryside, horse ridding, and family days out. I think when you live somewhere you forget just how beautiful it actually is, being back in the heart of Northumberland I was reminded of just what a beautiful part of the country I live in. 

walltown quarry Northumberland national park

Situated near Halthistle is Walltown, a beautiful quarry park on the edge of Hadrian's Wall. The park has visitor parking which is charged at £4 per day, it also has a small shop and toilet facilities. As it was National Parks week the park had been turned into an adventure playground with a Zip Wire, wall climbing, Archery, disk golf, bird box and Pizza making and a falconry display. The site had lots of picnic benches dotted around and I imagine that a walk around the lake and up the crags would be breathtaking. 



As it had been raining the day before the ground was very muddy, thankfully it was nice and sunny when we visited. I was glad that my teen had on her new Superfit GORE-TEX Lumis trainers which have been designed to keep her feet dry, with added grips for the mud. Chloe certainly put her trainers to the test as she was eager to try out all of the activities on offer. First up she went wall climbing, which she said was harder than it looked but lots of fun. Luckily her black and pink Lumis trainers had grips on them and were super lightweight and comfortable which meant she was able to climb the wall with ease. 

rock climbing at walltown northumberland newcastle family life blog

The girls then decided to make their own pizzas which were cooked in clay ovens and that they said were delicious. We then had a wander around the lake before Chloe was zooming through the air on the zip wire 200 metres over the quarry lake. 


Archery was up next before a visit to watch the falconry display. We then had a walk around before heading to the Northumbrian Meats van for some burgers and chips which we enjoyed on one of the many picnic benches dotted around the park. I imagine it would be wonderful visiting here for a family picnic by the lake. We also visited the on site shop to get some delicious local Doddingtons ice cream and Sophia fell in love with a little squirrel teddy that she just had to buy, a lovely reminder of her day at the park. 

archery at walltown park northumberland

There was lots of activities on offer for my teen such as the Zip Wire, climbing wall and archery but I felt there was not much for my toddler to do. She took part in the Pizza making, visited the lizard and tortoises from Kirkley Hall Zoo and  briefly watched the circus skills woman blowing bubbles. There was a story tent but I don't think she would have sat through that as she does not have the best concentration. Maybe next year the park could think of some kind of  adventure activity that slightly younger children can join in with. 


Walltown quarry Northumberland National Park

Overall we had a really lovely day at Walltown the girls had fun out in the fresh air being active and it was nice to have a day away from technology (due to no phone signal) and to just enjoy their company without being distracted by my phone. I think we will certainly be returning to Walltown and exploring more of Northumberland National Park in the future as a family.  I think we all need a little countryside adventure every once in a while. 

Disclosure We were invited to Walltown as guests of Northumberland National Park, we received tokens to take part in the activities and money towards lunch for the purpose of this post. However all opinions are my own. 

We were also sent the GORE-TEX trainers as we are Big Days ambassadors. 
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36 comments

  1. What beautiful pictures! Totally agree with you about having technology free days, we try and do it regularly. Will have to keep Walltown in mind for my next countryside adventure!

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    1. Thank you Rachel. I think I am going to have at least one technology free day a week, I felt so much better for having a break from my phone / social media. Walltown was lovely for a coutry adventure, I imagine the walks would be beautiful xx

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  2. I love National Parks! Went camping last week and we went over to Dartmoor and really enjoyed it :) Your photos looks amazing. x

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    1. Thank you, oh I bet that you had a great time camping x

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  3. How absolutely beautiful. We went to Wales recently and had no mobile signal in most parts and it was absolute bliss x

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    1. It really is such a nice change having no mobile signal, I really need to stop checking mine so often x

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  4. That park looks stunning, great pictures and what an amazing day out.

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    1. Thank you, it really was a lovely place to visit x

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  5. Awesome photos - looks like a great day out!

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    1. It really was a great day out, the girls loved it x

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  6. Very cool place and many fun adventure things to do. I would love to come there and try those outdoor activities.

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  7. I love Northumberland National Park, always something new to discover. I hadn't heard of Walltown either but it looks beautiful

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    1. It really was beautiful, such a nice place to go for a walk or picnic. I had no idea the park was so big and covered so much of Northumberland x

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  8. Beautiful pictures looks like an amazing day out, I love visiting parks with the little one X

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  9. It looks brilliant and so much for your teen to do! A shame your littlest wasn't able to join in so much, it always seems to be events for older kids or events for younger ones, harder to get a good mix. Those trainers look brilliant too! X

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    1. It really is so hard to get a good mix, hopefully there will be something slightly younger children next year xx

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  10. Oh this looks really fun. I'd love to take my child zip wire riding and wall climbing. The archery looks really fun too.

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    1. I bet Sylvia would love to do all these activities, my daughter loved them xx

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  11. I can't get over how beautiful this place is! So gorgeous. I'd love to try the rock climbing. x

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    1. It really was beautiful, my photos don't do it justice xx

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  12. Such beautiful surroundings. The zip wire looks so much fun although I don't think I'd be brave enough to give it a go!

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    1. It really was a beautiful place to visit. I was too scared to go on the zip wire too as I hate heights xx

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  13. Stunning photos. Looks like you had s great day filled with adventure!

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  14. This is such a beautiful place. How fab that they have all the extra activities too

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    1. It really was so beautiful. They had so many things to do when we there for the parks week xx

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  15. LOVE your pictures lovely :) I love places like this so much adventure to be had!

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    1. Thank you Becky, it really was an adventure for my girls xx

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  16. My kids would love that zip line and climbing wall. What a fun place to visit

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    1. It was such fun for children, great to get them outdoors and active too xx

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  17. Wow this looks like a fantastic place to visit. It's a bit far from me, but will have to see if there's any national parks near me. :) xx

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    1. It really is a great place to visit. I am sure that their will be a national park near you as they are all over the country xx

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  18. Wow that sure looks like a fantastic place to visit! Loving that climbing wall!

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    1. It really was, the climbing wall looked like lots of fun xx

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