As well as lots of fantastic water activities, (such as the aqua park, paddle boarding, wakeboarding, kayaking and more!) North Yorkshire Water Park have recently introduced more land activities. I think they already had a (simply huge) zipline over their lake as well as puzzle rooms, but they have now added axe throwing, archery, a low ropes course and bushcraft to their catalogue of adventures!
I don’t know why, but we have never been before, but would definitely like to visit over the summer to try out all the watersports too.
Archery
We started off with an archery session. Our tutor was great, enthusiastic and friendly. He started off with the safety rules and got us kitted up with arm protectors. He then demonstrated how to nock an arrow into place on our bows and the correct stance for shooting (apologies in advance if I don’t use the right terminology!).
Then we were allowed to have a go!
There were 8 targets in all to allow for larger groups but we were lucky enough to have the archery area to ourselves. My son, was the best out of all of us and consistently hit the target.
We had a few practice sessions before moving on to competing against each other in games, which was great fun.
Axe Throwing
We then moved onto axe throwing, which I was surprisingly good at (this is rare – no battleaxe jokes please!). Again, we had a good safety talk about when you were allowed to throw and collect your axe.
The knack of it was to throw it with a bit of welly, so that it spun and then landed – thwack – in the target.
My son was also good at this and a much better aim than me. This is his bullseye.
Incidentally, your arm might ache the next day!
Low Ropes
From there we moved onto the low ropes course. I didn’t join in with this one as I am too much of a wuss but the kids enjoyed it. You start at one end and then work your way around the course. Hard hats were given for safety gear.
There were lots of obstacles, including these blue spacehopper type things, a net to scramble through, and tightropes.
This was a really great adventure playground and would be perfect for younger kids too.
Lunch in the Cafe
We stopped for a quick lunch in the cafe. I am always curious about what is on offer in the cafe so took plenty of photos for you.
We tried the chicken burger and mozzarella sticks.
Puzzle Room
Finally, before we headed home we tried out the puzzle room. This is similar to an escape room – but the aim is to solve as many puzzles as you can in 45 minutes rather than trying to escape. There are 30 puzzles in total and we managed 25, so not bad, but could have done better! North Yorkshire Water Park has two puzzle rooms – they are the same so that large groups can compete against each other and an escape room. We shall have to try the escape room when we return!
A brilliant day out – and lots to choose from!
Check out our huge post on family days out in Yorkshire.