I'm happy to say that I seem to be clocking up the hotspots of Yorkshire for lovely walks and trips…read moreout - and here is another one! Situated near the wee village of Thorner, Hetchell woods was a regular haunt for my partner during his boyhood years and so for his birthday a few years ago we decided to go there for a visit. It is a beautiful picturesque woods that cover about 11 hectares, so there is plenty of distance to get a good walk on! We took a picnic which was great as fortunately the weather was beautiful, which we sat and ate at the top of a sort of rocky-cliff bit that my boyfriend and his mates used to enjoy climbing! It's another beautiful piece of Yorkshire that you shouldn't miss out on. The website added isn't exactly a site purely dedicated to Hetchell Woods, but it certainly offers up an extra bit of information just in case you wanted to know! For a beautiful day out and a great way to get some exercise with the added bonus of nature at it's most plentiful, try a visit to Hetchell Woods.

Sometimes we all need to get a nice big helping of fresh air to blast away those work blues or for…read moreme likely hangover. Luckily we're spoilt for choice here. One such place I love to go is Potternewton Park. It's out of the city off Harehills Lane and is well maintained. You've got formal gardens and picnic areas for a start. The active among you can also feel the deep burn with a game of tennis. Lesser assertion is needed for a cheeky spot of bowls and there is often some football going on. What it's also good for is bringing the community together with some annual events. The West Indian Carnival and Reggae Concert is a must. It's a vibrant mix of costumes, music and food and is great when the sun basks down and lights up a beautiful summer's day. If you feel like some greenery and open space then look no further.

Potternewton Park is a great green space in the Chapel Allerton/Harehills area. The surrounding…read morestreets are full of beautiful old style terraced houses and so it's a lovely addition to the area for the local children and teens to go for a wander. I've driven past it so many times on the way to work it seemed only right to stop by and check it out. At the top end there are some really lovely shrubbery arrangements, which I realise isn't the thing most people are interested in, but I quite enjoyed sitting and eating a sandwich with all the greenery around me. Further down there is a play area for the younger kids, which certainly looks more exciting than the likes of parks from when I was a kid, and there are basket ball courts and a skate area for the older ones too. As an adult there is simply a large expanse of beautiful green parkland for an afternoon stroll/sunny picnic. All in all it's a lovely place to visit if the busy roads and city life is stressing you out.

Lovely place this especially on a sunny day. Great to walk around the lake, perhaps even take a…read morepicnic. The parking is now 70p. There is also a caravan park attached if you fancy staying here.

A lovely lake with plenty of ducks, and I couldn't believe how many swans were there. The cafe is…read morelovely, being disabled, Ive never walked around the lake, but I have heard it is a nice walk.

A free attraction!…read more A nice working farm with plenty of animals to keep you entertained: fallow deer, pigs, ferrets, sheep, lambs, peacocks. There is food available for a small charge, a good size picnic area near the duck pond. A good value children's play barn is also on site.

A great place to visit if you have young children, or are an animal lover!…read more Emsley Farm is an open-farm with many various animals which you can observe and often get very close to (and occasionally pet!), including chickens, ducks, geese, sheep, pigs, wallabies, rabbits, guinnea pigs, donkeys, and goats. You can buy bags of feed from the small shop for the animals and there is also a large indoor play area (which does cost to use) if the kids have excess energy that needs using up! A nice touch are the hand-cleaning stations dotted around the farm so you can keep everyone nice and hygienic! The farm store sells locally produced meat and free range eggs (including quail and duck), and you can also buy live poultry for your back garden flock too!

Loads to do at this park, which ever end of it you go into! If you're near the sports centre,…read morethere's a big playground for kids, and a little one for the really young uns! And in the summer there is an excellent little railway. I took my boy on it back in September - think I enjoyed it more though haha! At the other end, there's a duck pond, pitch and put, a putting green, tennis courts, and gardens. And there's grass - loads of grass places to picnic etc! There's also a nice little cafe and a pub hidden away in there somewhere too! In the summer, they have a music festival with real ales etc. and this year Dodgy headlined the Saturday, which was pretty cool!

A great park right in the centre of Wakefield. There are so many things you can do at Thornes Park…read more- from feeding the ducks to playing pitch and putt or tennis! There's also a nice childrens' play area and a lovely rose garden, but I think the best thing really is the amount of grassy space to just have a picnic or play football or rounders. Part of the park is also used to host Wakefield's music festival every year, which showcases a host of local bands playing every type of music - from heavy metal to folk! This festival is certainly worth attending as every year it gets better and better, but the park's worth visiting at any time of the year. It's quite large but there's good access, with at least two car parks (and there are pubs nearby if you get thirsty!)

Lovely museum for a good afternoon out. Very educational! Local history in a beautiful settingread more

Wonderful fascinating house plus lovely grounds to walk the dogs in…read more Yummy tea room too

Lotherton Hall was always a place where families could their children, pack a picnic and spend a…read morewhole day walking around the fantastic aviary (bird sanctuary) in the picturesque grounds. The House itself being the only one "Chargeable" place that for the first or second visit was value for money. Unfortunately, when Lotherton Hall brought in other charges - by restricting the public from free use of the play park and aviary, the popularity dropped, and so rightly so. Not everyone wanted to visit the House (as I have said, one or two visits is sufficient), and certainly not pay for the privilege of having a picnic with their own food. A shortcut through this charge is by Leisure Card, so I understand, which is one of The National Trust or National Heritage. Besides this, it is with what I believe to be a ridiculous fee, you can access all areas, as long as you have a car full of people. For first timers the experience will be found to be awesome, magical for the kids, and breathtaking for the bird lovers among you.

Lotherton Hall is a great family day out with bird gardens, A deer park and plenty of grounds to…read morewalk around. To our discredit we've not ventured into the house so we cant pass comment on that however the rest of place is great, our only niggle is the food I'd take your own they literally cant fry an egg. The bird gardens have a wonderful range of birds, with reasonable sized enclosures so that they dont look too cramped.

Just 20 minutes by train from Manchester and around 30 minutes from Leeds - sandwiched in the…read morePennines is the glorious Dovestones. Most people walk around the 1st reservoir and enjoy the stroll. You can however walk around as many as 4 reservoirs in total and increase the challenge. If your particularly fit or an experienced Walker then walk to the tops and enjoy some fantastic views. The place changes every day with the weather, and lots of different routes to take so you won't get bored. Always wear good shoes/boots and take your waterproofs just in case. There is ample parking on weekdays, but very busy at weekends.

Our mission to go for at least one walk in the great outdoors each month of 2016 continues - at…read moreDove Stone Reservoir up in the hills of Saddleworth. Hoping lots of folks would have been put off by the cold weather and fallen snow, our group were met by total carmageddon at the official car park (which was full on a Sunday lunchtime and proved difficult to find a space). After a couple of circuits without success, we drove back to the main road, up the hill a few hundred yards and found plenty of room at the Binn Green car park. It's supposed to be pay and display but there were no machines - double winner. We took a stepped path down from this car park (it's a tad muddy in winter so choose appropriate footwear) and then eventually met the main paved/gravelled route around the reservoir. It's pretty flat all the way and there are gorgeous views to be had, so lots of photo opportunities. The shorter circular route is about 3 miles, whereas if you include the route past Yeoman Hey and Greenfield Reservoirs this increases to 5 miles. We were getting hungry by this point so decided to just do the former!