🏰 🌲Raby Castle, Plotters Forest and the Deer Park🦌

LOCATION; Staindrop, Darlington, DL2 3AH. Around 25 minutes from the North of Darlington.

I was invited along on Saturday with my family to Raby Castle. My sister, her partner, my mum, my 6 year old, 3 month old, 3 year old niece and 10 month old nephew. My husband stayed at home as we wanted to check out the mobility aspect of it all first for him.

💷 TICKET PRICES 💷

Children under 4 go free, concessions available for over 60s, students with valid student ID and disabled visitors. Carers can also go for free if a carer is required for any of the visitors. Call ahead and take carers ID. Annual Passes are also available. Full ticket options and prices can be seen in the photo below.

👋ARRIVAL AND PARKING 🚙

Upon arriving, there are plenty of signs to direct you on where to park and lots of parking spaces including disabled parking. If you are going just to visit Plotters Forest there is parking a bit closer to this area too. We parked in the main parking as we were visiting everything starting with Plotters Forest so would finish off back near the main parking.

🌲 PLOTTERS FOREST 🌳

We firstly visited Plotters Forest. You book a specific time slot for this and then you get up to 2 hours. We went for 10am although later slots around 3pm can be quieter. We didn’t find it too busy though to be honest.

You check in at the little hut and then there’s a buggy park to leave your pushchairs in if you want to (if you want to climb up the towers with your kids then you may want to do this otherwise you need to just meet them further along).

It’s a great place for kids to run around and explore with lots of trees surrounding it and wooden walkways, it can feel a bit like a maze. There were towers to climb, fireman’s pole, lots of climbing, a slide and tunnels to go through. As you had to climb up for a lot of these activities they aren’t fully accessible to all.

On the lower level which is fully accessible, there are lots of sensory things for little ones such as a large colourful xylophone with nursery rhymes to try to play, a photo board to put your face in, a matching pairs game on the wall, a crazy mirror to look in and a large loudspeaker to speak through.

At the end of the trail there’s the plotters pantry cafe, toilets next to it and a toddler play area. There’s picnic seating on the upper level of the plotters pantry cafe and a table and chairs on the lower level as well as some more seating near the toilets. The cafe has a nice selection of snacks, drinks, sandwiches and a kids lunch box option. We didn’t eat or drink here as it was still a little early so we stopped for lunch later at the Yurt Cafe after a walk in the Deer Park.

When going round plotters forest there is a gate half way round taking you on a shortcut back to the beginning for anyone that perhaps needs to leave for any reason but this does involve going down some steps. At the end of the plotters forest trail, there are steps down to the beginning so the only accessible way to get back out would be to go back through again (this only takes around 5 minutes if just walking straight through and not stopping to play).

It took us around an hour to get round all of Plotters Forest, but you could spend up to 2 hours there if you wanted maybe by stopping in the cafe or going back to some sections. My 6 year old really enjoyed it. My 3 year old niece enjoyed some of the sensory elements but it’s a little limited for toddlers. I would say Plotters Forest is better suited to kids aged 4+ mainly (It is free entry for under 4s so this is justified). Getting to the upper levels of the towers would be tricky for little ones. If with older kids though they will still enjoy the sensory elements and toddler play area as well as walk round with the wooden walkway in the trees, but I just wouldn’t advise to visit here specifically for Plotters Forest for toddlers. It is still a nice place to visit if you are visiting the Castle or Deer Park anyway.

🦌 DEER PARK AND YURT CAFE 🛖

Before going on a walk in the Deer park we stopped at the Yurt Cafe which is located back near the car park again. This area is pretty central so it’s a good place for it to be located. There was seating inside and around the yurt. We just grabbed a coffee at this point as it wasn’t quite lunchtime but there’s also hot sandwiches, jacket potatoes, soup, snacks, cakes and also the kids lunch boxes available again. After our walk round the Deer Park I got myself a sandwich from here and my 6 year old a lunch box, the kids box was reasonably priced I thought at £5.50. The other prices overall were as expected for a tourist attraction. You could also take a picnic and there’s lots of picnic benches in this area too.

There is also the stables shop near the cafe with some lovely unique things to buy for gifts or for home. The Stables cafe is also usually located here but they are going through some developments for another cafe so they have the Yurt Cafe instead for now.

After our lunch we headed towards the Deer Park, we showed our tickets at the gate and my 6 year old was given a scavenger hunt to do. The Deer Park was a lovely walk with fairly flat paths suitable for wheelchairs and pushchairs. There were two different directions to go. We chose to go past the castle and ponds.  We saw plenty of deer on our walk, at a distance which is understandable with the nature of deers. It was lovely to see them out in the open with lots of fields and trees surrounding. We had a nice relaxing walk and got some great photos of the castle and views too. Once we got to the end we stopped for a little break to feed the babies. It wasn’t a loop so you walk back again the same way, which we didn’t mind but it is slightly uphill going back so if you have mobility issues you may want to just go half way just to the ponds before it starts to go downhill on the way. There was a little bench to sit at near the ponds too and take in the scenery. I would definitely come back again even just for this walk and would take a picnic.

🏰 THE CASTLE 🏰

After a quick break for lunch at the yurt cafe again and also a toilet break (there was both disabled toilets and baby changing facilities next to the yurt cafe), we headed to the castle. We showed our tickets to the gentleman at the castle entrance. He was very helpful explaining where to leave the pushchairs and he also gave my son a trail to do in the castle.

There were lots of rooms to explore and the trail kept us looking out for things and speaking to the workers there for answers, which also led to us finding out a bit of history on the castle.

We enjoyed our time in here even if it was a little difficult to get round with the babies in pushchairs. My 6 year old actually said to me going round the castle was his favourite part!

Children can be really fascinated by grand old buildings and history and this definitely ticked those boxes. There were lots of huge chandeliers, gold ceilings, a horse drawn carriage, family portraits on every wall and most parts of the building dating back to the 14th century! It was also owned by the Neville family who were extremely powerful in England and two of the sons were Kings of England so it’s an important part of our history.

After our visit round the castle we headed back to the Yurt Cafe for a final cuppa and chill before heading off. The babies were asleep after a long day of fresh air and taking in all the different parts of the castle and the nature outside. My 6 year old needed a rest too after all the walking, which we both definitely need to do more of! There was a cricket match happening in the grounds too as Raby Castle Cricket Club is based there. My son enjoyed watching a bit of this with his nana whilst I fed my three month old. The cafe were helpful in providing hot water in a bowl to warm his bottle up too.👌

🦽ACCESSIBILITY 👶

🌲 Plotters Forest-This is wheelchair and pushchair accessible on lower levels just not the upper towers, upper towers don’t need to be accessed to get round it all. The toilets in here are also wheelchair accessible and have baby changing facilities.

🦌 Deer Park-This is fully accessible and the paths are fairly flat but do go downhill slightly when you go past the ponds. Next to the yurt cafe there are baby changing facilities and they are wheelchair accessible as well as standard toilets.

🏰 Castle-Not fully accessible. Understandably with such an old building there are lots of steps and narrow walkways. You also go up and down a few steps before leaving your pushchairs in the central area of the castle to carry on viewing the rest of it. This could be a little difficult when on your own. When going back for our pushchairs at the end, we went through a door from outside in the central courtyard leading straight to the room they were in, so you could avoid all the steps at the beginning but you would just be going back on yourself to see all the rooms. It’s worth asking the guide when you are there if you can do this though. This central room is also where there is a tv screen with seating playing a video tour of the castle. Although this is a good idea for those who cannot get round it all, there are still a few steps leading up to this even if you enter this room straight from the outside, so it may not be suitable for all. There were toilets half way round but not wheelchair accessible and no baby changing facilities in them, so you are best to go to the toilets next to the yurt cafe for this. I would say take a baby carrier if taking a baby in here.

The exterior is beautiful so it’s a nice option to visit the Deer park and you can still get photos of the outside of the castle from here as the Deer Park surrounds it if the castle sounds like it wouldn’t be accessible for you.

🐶 DOG FRIENDLY 🐕

Dogs are very welcome here. You can take them for a walk in the Deer Park, Yurt Cafe and the shop. They must be kept on leads at all times. There is a dog bowl and water refill station in the outdoor seating area of the yurt cafe too. Only assistance dogs are allowed in the Castle.

🥪 FOOD AND DRINK ☕️

There was sandwiches, soups, savoury snacks, sweet treats, kids lunch boxes, ice cream and hot and cold drinks at Plotters Pantry located in Plotters Forest.

There was similar available at the Yurt Cafe next to the main car park near the entrance. There was also a couple of vegan and gluten free snack/sweet options as well as jacket potatoes and soup which may be suitable. Check with the staff if unsure they were very friendly and helpful.

You can also bring a picnic to have in the grounds next to the car park and yurt cafe, there are picnic tables. You cannot have picnics in plotters forest so make sure when you book your slot for this that you take this into account if bringing a picnic.

There's a water refill station for you to fill with their own bottles in the outdoor seating area of the yurt cafe. A lovely thought!

❓FAQ'S❓

Visit https://www.raby.co.uk/raby-castle/faqs/ for answers to frequently asked questions if you cannot find your answer here.

💭 DEFINITELY WORTH A VISIT 👍

We left around half 3, so we had spent a good 5 hours here. It’s definitely somewhere you can spend the full day.

The walk in the Deer Park was my favourite part as the weather was just right for it and it was so peaceful but I think having the park, castle and plotters forest definitely helps to break it up and having different things to do for everyone.

Although overall its aimed more for ages 4 plus, babies and toddlers would still benefit from the fresh air, the scenery to look at and the natural sounds to hear.

I would definitely visit again and bring my husband along as other than the castle it would be accessible for him. If you can go round the castle though it is definitely worth the extra £5 to add on 😊

🌟HOW TO BOOK 🌟

For more info and to book go to https://www.raby.co.uk/

You can also follow their Facebook Page at https://www.facebook.com/RabyCastle

Thanks for reading! Please feel free to share with your friends and family :)

(Ad-gifted visit)