The Great Northern Giant Sandpit

Shekina Rose, Families Editor

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Great Northern Sandpit

13 July 2023-31 August 2024

Always double check opening hours with the venue before making a special visit.

Great Northern Sandpit
The Great Northern
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Are you looking for a fun and free day out with your family? Want a trip to the beach but it’s just a bit too far to travel? Or perhaps you have shopping to do in the city centre and you also want to find an activity to keep the kids happy?

Head to the Great Northern Playhouse this summer, where you’ll find a family-friendly space providing a creative, safe environment for young people to enjoy. Completely outdoors, the Playhouse is a perfect place to go on a sunny day.

One of the main features at the Great Northern is the popular Great Northern Sandpit, located in the basin of the amphitheatre. With its 50 tonnes of soft sand, wooden logs, buckets and spades for digging and building amazing sandcastles, here, you can expect hours and hours of free entertainment for children.

What’s even better, is while your child plays and has fun in the Great Northern Sandpit, it’s time for you to sit back and relax in the sun. Bring your tastiest sandwiches, crisps, biscuits (and fruit if you’re feeling healthy), and find a comfortable seat on one of the many colourful picnic benches dotted around the amphitheatre. Alternatively, you could also book onto one of Great Northern’s popular cafes and restaurants, including Almost Famous, All Star Lanes and Evuna.

After a long day of digging and playing in the sand, you could also head to the Great Northern cinema and see what family friendly films are available to watch with your little ones.

The Great Northern Sandpit is free and booking is not required.  Simply turn up, get your spades out, and have fun!

Where to go near The Great Northern Giant Sandpit

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Come to Swithens Farm for a great family day out in Leeds. Our farm has plenty to offer whatever age you are!Swithens Farm is a working farm. For many years now Ian and his wife Angela have built a following that they welcome in all year around. We now have a farm shop, café, playbarn and petting farm. When we first opened we only had the usual farm animals – cows, pigs, sheep, chickens and it was free entry. We now have llamas, alpacas, meerkats, rabbits, guinea pigs, donkeys and a pony.On the working farm, we breed our own cows, pigs and sheep and we sell the meat through the farm shop and the café. If you buy a sausage sandwich from the café the sausage will be from the butcher who has made the sausage by hand using our own pork. We also produce our own free-range eggs.
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Morning Glory positions itself as a grab-and-go spot, with just 12 seats inside serving coffee, bagels and sweet treats.

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