Waterloo Lake
A two-kilometre circuit around a lake dug by soldiers home from the Napoleonic wars.
Five kilometres from the centre of Leeds sits a park of more than 700 acres (about 2.8 square kilometres), roughly twice the size of London's Hyde Park and one of the largest city parks anywhere in Europe. Its big lake, Waterloo Lake, was dug by soldiers just back from the Napoleonic wars who needed the work; today it is a tree-lined circuit of about two kilometres with a café on the shore. The park is free, never closes and needs no booking. The area near the main entrance is where the interest concentrates: the Greek Revival Mansion (built 1811-26, now a café and events venue), then the walled Canal Gardens with their neat beds, a small Alhambra Garden inspired by the Alhambra's Generalife gardens in Granada with a fountain and a water channel, and a Monet Garden complete with a little green bridge. The specialist gardens keep short hours, 9am to 3.30pm, so do not leave them until late afternoon. Beyond them are a smaller Upper Lake with a waterfall and fountain, several playgrounds, a skate park, and the vast lawns that host major summer concerts, plus a little land train that runs at weekends and in school holidays, weather permitting (£1.50 single, £2 return). Tropical World, at the northern edge on Princes Avenue, is the one attraction inside the park you pay for: a warm glasshouse holding Britain's largest tropical plant collection outside Kew, with a butterfly house where they flutter around your head, aquaria, a reptile cavern, small monkeys in the canopy and meerkats in the desert zone. It opens daily 10am to 6pm (last entry 30 minutes before), adults £9.50, children 3-15 £5.50, under-3s free, tickets bought at the door with no advance booking. It shuts on 25 and 26 December and 1 January, and closes at 2pm on 24 and 31 December. An hour to ninety minutes covers it, and it is the ideal family bolt-hole on a wet winter day when the park itself is grey and the light is gone by four. Buses 2 and 12 run from central Leeds and stop right outside Tropical World in about twenty minutes; drivers will find four car parks inside the park, a mix of free and paid, plus free parking close to Tropical World. Pushchairs cope well on the main paths and the lake circuit, but the park is huge, so pick one area (Mansion, walled gardens and Waterloo Lake) rather than trying to cross it all. Sunny weekends and concert days are packed; on a weekday you will have it almost to yourself. The honest verdict: if you are passing through Leeds with children and have a clear afternoon, it earns its place; a special trip from Manchester or York for the park alone does not.
A two-kilometre circuit around a lake dug by soldiers home from the Napoleonic wars.
A walled corner with a Granada-style fountain and water channel, shut early at 3.30pm.
A warm glasshouse of butterflies, monkeys and meerkats, the best bet with children in the rain.
Mansion Lane, off Princes Avenue, Roundhay, Leeds LS8 2HH
With children on a clear day, yes: give it an afternoon together with Tropical World. Without children and with a single day, the city centre with its arcades and markets deserves your time more; the park is lovely, but in the end it is a park.
For families yes, especially in the rain: an hour to ninety minutes among butterflies, reptiles and monkeys for less than any zoo. For an adult visiting alone it is small and may feel slighter than you expect.