We recently enjoyed a fun family day out at Lilidorei at The Alnwick Garden so thought I’d share an honest review.

During our summer holiday at a cottage in Northumberland we decided to head to Lilidorei as it was less than 30 minutes away.

You can also include your entrance to The Alnwick Garden with your Lilidorei tickets so you can make a real day out of it.

Booking in advance is essential as even in non school holidays it can be busy!

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What is Lilidorei?

Pronounced Lil-ee-door-ee, Lilidorei is a magical kingdom ruled by Lord Elfwin from high up in his tower of Elfwin Drin.

It is home to the largest play structure in the world.

Lilidorei is a magical, mysterious village full of play and is the vision of Her Grace the Duchess of Northumberland.

It aims to create an environment that encourages both imaginary and physical play.

A play session lasts for 2.5 hours. There are three sessions throughout the day:

• Morning session 9am – 11:45am
• Lunch time session 12:30 – 3:15pm
• Tea time session 4pm – 6:45pm

Sessions can be booked online in advance and is advised via the Lilidorei website.

Although there are no inhabitants in the village you may hear some members of the 9 clans when walking around from the immersive soundscape that has been created and you can explore each of the clans habitats and find out more about how they live.

Clan houses include Goblins, Hobgoblins, Trolls, Dwarves, Fairies, Sprites, Pixies and Elves, who are all overseen by the Squiffles. Everything at Lilidorei is enclosed within a relatively large space.

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Our visit to Lilidorei

We parked at the car park next to Alnwick Garden and because we’re not members we paid £3 to park which I think is reasonable.

And then we made the short walk into Alnwick Garden and followed the signs to Lilidorei.

Our confirmation email was checked and then we followed the signs to Lilidorei.

You can see the impressive play structure as you walk past The Treehouse which was unfortunately closed during our visit.

And then we waited at the large imposing gate which we thought was the entrance with quite frightening sound effects booming out.

Some of the younger children including Elsie really didn’t like this.

The family in front of us spotted a little open gate round to the side and we followed them through – this could have been made clearer in our opinion!

And then we walked through a wooden archway and were warmly greeted by a member of staff who explained that the play structure is designed for all the family to enjoy, where the clan houses were and where to get a cake and a coffee.

We decided to check out the clan houses first.

For many of these you can ring the doorbell and peer through the windows but disappointingly that’s all.

There’s lots more sound effects as you walk through but it would have been nice to go in at least one of the houses, Elsie was disappointed not to be able to.

We decided to skip the story time which we were advised was 15-20 minutes – a little too long for an almost 4-year-old who just wanted to play.

So we decided to get stuck into the play structure instead.

There’s different routes in and we eased ourselves in with the ramp.

As you ascend it does get narrower, tighter and less head room.

Poor Steve did bang his head quite a few times so taller people beware – duck!

The play structure has play areas below it and around it with a variety of swings, an obstacle course that all ages can tackle and some fun mushrooms that make a musical sound when you jump on them, some wobbly reindeer, plus some spinning poles.

There’s chairs stacked on tables that you can climb up as well as ropes and ladders.

A few adults we passed by all said the same thing that it’s a workout – lots of twisting, climbing and maneuvering.

Elsie managed mostly without any help but Steve was right by her side or behind her and asthmatic me managed even with the backpack on (which sometimes got stuck).

The play structure has six slides; four tube slides, two open spiral slides, one sliding rail and one fireman’s pole.

I was impressed that Elsie was so keen to climb right to the top she did say a few times “I’m facing my fears” bless her.

At the highest point, the structure measures 26m and off this, there is a 24m tube slide which is super fast.

And soon enough we were right at the top with the largest slide and Elsie was keen to get on so she went on with Steve but I had to go down first by myself!

I screamed all the way down but didn’t the second time go me!

Elsie and Steve went on three times and she enjoyed it.

There’s also smaller slides too.

The wire cages that we called birds nests we looked at but Elsie wasn’t feeling brave enough to go in which was fine with me!

There’s also some little hideaway bits underneath the structure which you can sit inside, disappointingly some people had left rubbish in there when there’s bins dotted about.

There are ‘play staff’ on the equipment who are there to play with the children and to look out for them and make sure they are happy.

If you are struggling to find your child you can ask them for help.

At about 11 o’clock we decided to join the queue at the Magic Muffin for a cake and a drink.

There’s little windows to order and collect your goodies.

We went for a fairy muffin for Steve and I to share and one which looked like a toadstool for Elsie – £3.75 each and a refillable Fanta £3.50.

I made sure to get a refill of the Fanta twice including just before we left!

Behind the village is the Groggery with a savoury hut where you can choose from BBQ sausages cooked on a swing grill, gourmet mac and cheese or fried spiral potatoes.

In the sweet hut, you can watch Churros and Waffles being made and you can order an ice cream with a magical topping.

There’s also some reindeer to ride on, and other obstacles you can clamber across at the play structure section.

Our session was 9am-11:45am which flew by, we made our way to the gift shop at about half past 11.

The tannoy announcement to remind you your session was soon ending and to make your way to the nearest slide was a little premature in our opinion sounding at 11:15am.

The gift shop has lots of Christmas things in which you’d expect as the clan is apparently Christmas obsessed.

We bought Elsie a rainbow twirly tape thing and she insisted on also getting a giant bug which she has affectionately named Buggy.

Buggy came with us to lunch and to look around Alnwick Garden and hasn’t left her side since.

We made our way to Alnwick Garden post gift shop and decided to go straight for lunch which was the right decision, as soon as we’d sat down the queue became massive.

Elsie has a kids picnic lunch which was £6.50 she had a cheese sandwich, apple, packet of crisps, an Innocent smoothie and a Penguin biscuit.

This seems to be the average price for this kind of kids lunch at the moment and she ate most of it – we kept half of the crisps and apple for later.

Steve and I didn’t fancy any of the sandwiches or salads on offer so checked out the hot food choices instead.

We hung on till 12pm and ordered a half pepperoni half margarita pizza to share which was £9.50 which wasn’t too bad.

The pizza was made fresh and was really nice we ate the lot!

Lunch demolished and toilets visited it was time to check out the gardens.

Elsie loved the large water fountain and all the different water installations.

She also really liked the swings and insisted she went on with us all and just herself and Buggy.

The large sandpit was also a big hit with Elsie.

We left Alnwick Garden just after half 2 and 8,500 steps later!

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Our overall thoughts on Lilidorei

It isn’t a cheap day out by any means and won’t be affordable to all families.

For us this was a treat as we were on holiday and wanted Elsie to have as much fun as possible.

However, we did make the most of it and stayed until after 2pm.

Elsie really enjoyed Lilidorei and then exploring The Alnwick Garden.

I thought the food prices were average and the refillable soft drink was a fair price, I’ve recently paid just shy of £4 for one glass of Coke at a restaurant which was not refillable!

The play structure is really impressive and is suitable for children of most ages and abilities.

I do think many grandparents and those with mobility issues would struggle to get all the way round the play structure itself.

Lilidorei was pitched as being really accessible, however following the press day this was called into question by many well-known local disability advocates and bloggers which was a real shame.

Information on accessibility is available on the Lilidorei website.

Overall we enjoyed our visit but I wouldn’t rush back to be honest, the price point is on the pricier end and it’s not somewhere we would go with grandparents due to this and the fact that I think they’d struggle to take part fully which is a shame.

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Where is Lilidorei?

The Alnwick Garden, Gardeners Cottage, Greenwell Road, Alnwick NE66 1FJ, Northumberland

The postcode for the car park is NE66 1FJ (parking charge is £3.00 per car per day).

If you are arriving on the A1 Northbound, to avoid congestion in Alnwick Town Centre do not take the first junction signposted for Alnwick, but instead remain on the A1 and take the Denwick turn-off, clearly signposted with the brown signs for The Alnwick Garden.

Buses connect Alnwick to the surrounding towns and the city of Newcastle. Click here for more information.

The main east coast line from London to Edinburgh stops at Alnmouth, which is 4 miles away. A taxi or bus can be taken from Alnmouth to The Alnwick Garden.

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Lilidorei opening hours

They are open every day except for Christmas Day.

For up-to-date opening times and dates please visit the Lilidorei website.

There are three play sessions:

• Morning session 9am – 11:45am
• Lunch Time session 12:30 – 3:15pm
• Tea time session 4pm – 6:45pm

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Lilidorei admission ticket prices*

*correct at time of writing. Please check Lilidorei website for up to date admission ticket prices.

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Other family day out related posts

Hall Hill Farm

Post lockdown visit to Northumberland Country Zoo

Family fun at Northumberland County Show

Post lockdown visit to Beamish Museum

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