Courtesy of National Lottery Open Week offering free entry to dozens of sites throughout March – We visited our first National Trust site, East Riddlesden Hall at no cost!

It was a dry Saturday morning with a forecast of thunderstorms so we wrapped up for the weather expecting the worst. The place seemed quiet reflecting the weather forecast no doubt yet the cars were still spilling across to the overflow. We were lucky to get a spot part way down the hill of a rather steep car park!

We headed for the hall first to check-in and find out more about where we could visit with our dog. Turns out most of the site isn’t accessible with your furry friend which we were prepared for but we knew she’d be okay walking around the grounds. So we headed for the meadow walk first.

The walk was short at around 20 minutes and besides a couple of signs about wildlife there wasn’t much to see. We’ve never been to a National Trust site before so I can only compare the walk to those at RSPB sites which tend to be a bit more exciting as they are focused on the conservation of wildlife.

So we walked the loop then headed back to the grounds. First stop: the barn. This is a really impressive piece of architecture and I liked looking at the detail inside. The signage told the story of a very large cow named the ‘Airedale Heifer’ weighing in at 2640 pounds! The barn isn’t dog friendly unfortunately.

The hall features a cute little shop full of trinkets, a small seating area for food and a tea rooms upstairs (not dog friendly). Inside you can explore the hall with rooms set up as they would have been many years ago. With a toddler, I didn’t get chance to stop and read about the history but she did enjoy the dress up box!

Within the grounds there are gardens to walk around but they are quite small. If you are hoping for a dog walk this might pass 10 minutes. I imagine they are very pretty as the season changes.

Outside you can gain access to the craft room which is a cute little play space for little ones. It has books, including a shelf you can buy children’s books, and lots of tables for craft activities, Our daughter chose this moment for her tantrum so she isn’t one of the many kids that I’m sure will enjoy this room.

Finally, we headed for the discovery trail. Unfortunately another spot that isn’t dog friendly which is a shame because it would have been nice for us all to enjoy this space. The trail isn’t really a trail, it’s just an area filled with lots of things kids will love. I really liked this play space and took lots of pictures for inspiration to one day create our own for our garden. One big ‘Mud-pie kitchen’, the space had lots of wooden stations for children to play at. The addition of wheelbarrows for them to move materials to different parts of the space was especially cute. There were dens, things to climb and an adorable reading seat.

This was my favourite part of the site by miles. If this wasn’t here I’d imagine my toddler wouldn’t have been very stimulated. There is a very small playground at the back of the hall also but this is aimed at older children and didn’t feature swings or a slide so my toddler wasn’t interested.

We spent a lovely couple of hours at East Riddlesden Hall and it was nice to visit somewhere new locally. I’m thankful that we were able to try out the place for free thanks to the lottery scheme but I don’t think it would have been worthwhile for us had we of paid the standard entry fees.

We couldn’t leave empty handed so we came away with a brand new passport! Ready to be stamped with all our future National Trust adventures. I’m sure this visit to a NTrust site will be the first of many and I look forward to seeing what else is on offer across the country!

~ Visited East Riddlesden Hall in March 2025

Useful bits..

Website: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/yorkshire/east-riddlesden-hall
Location: Riddlesden, Keighley, West Yorkshire
Entry Fee: (Correct in March 2025) – Adult £7.70 (with gift aid) – Child (5+) £3.90 – Family discounts available and free with National Trust Membership
Transport: Car parking is free with plenty of spaces. Keighley train station is 1.5 miles away.
Dog friendly verdict: Most of the site is dog friendly and there is a meadow trail which will give your pooch a good 20 minute walk. Dogs can enter the shop and gardens but not the historical building, tea rooms or discovery trail. We found overall this was quite restrictive and so we wouldn’t revisit with a dog if we were to go back. We are aware this is common for National Trust sites for obvious reasons to preserve the interior of the historical buildings. This site gets two pawprints (good) in the National Trust paw print rating system.
Family friendly verdict: East Riddlesden Hall might be interesting to an older child who enjoys historical buildings. There are a few bits they might find fun like the barn and craft room. Overall, there are some facilities appealing to children; the small play area and the creative discovery trail complete with mud kitchen and wheel barrows.
Overall verdict: I wouldn’t return to this site. It was nice for a first visit but not enough to do here for my family to justify the entry fee.
TripAdvisor: East Riddlesden Hall