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Burghley House near Stamford’s new playground Hide and Secrets is a must this summer rain or shine




Rain or shine, Burghley House’s new adventure playground Hide and Secrets has plenty to offer for the young and the young at heart.

Since the new playarea opened at the estate near Stamford in April, I’ve had my sights set on having a go on that epic-looking slide but in my late 30s, I felt I needed to rope in a couple of willing children to go with me.

So when my godchildren Poppy, aged eight, and Max, very nearly six, came to visit, it was at the top of the list to take them.

Sadly, the British summer we’ve been having lately was true to form and on Saturday, it was biblical rain. The picnic we had planned to enjoy in the sculpture garden at Burghley quickly became a carpet picnic before we left the house, but a little bit of rain wasn’t going to stop me from sliding.

Thanks to a cartoon pig teaching young children that it’s fun to jump in muddy puddles, they had absolutely no qualms about the wet weather and in wellies and raincoats, they splashed happily through the huge puddle outside the majestic gates which greet you ahead of the ticket entrance for Hide and Secrets.

Entering a rainy Hide and Secrets playarea
Entering a rainy Hide and Secrets playarea

It is clear every element has been thought through carefully. There are beautiful sculptures of Cecil, a wooden mole mascot, as you take the winding footpath uphill, passing tunnels (way too small for even a fun-loving adult to squash through!) and a sensory wall, to the towers that make the gigantic wooden playarea.

The drop slide
The drop slide

Toilets, a cafe and wooden benches are among the facilities provided but in terms of shelter from the pouring rain, there wasn’t much for the children’s mum, dad and grandmother watching the fun from the sidelines – except to stand under the tree canopy.

Thanks to the weather though, it felt like we had a private session with just a handful of other families around. Every child there might have had clothes stuck to their body and hair glued to their heads thanks to the rain but they were all wearing the biggest smiles.

I’m not the fittest and taking both routes to reach the slides felt a mammoth effort, squeezing through the wooden gaps, or wobbling up a climbing net, and by the time I reached the top on both my goes, I was pretty tired. Meanwhile, Poppy and Max’s energy had shown no bounds and they’d run up multiple times, each time shouting gleefully: “Come on Aunty Kerry, hurry up!”

Kerry, Max and Poppy at the top of the drop slide
Kerry, Max and Poppy at the top of the drop slide

Getting into the drop slide was also an effort – clearly designed for smaller bodies than mine - but my godchildren had no time to waste and gave me a shove before I went whizzing down and flew straight off the end, landing with a big crash! Doubled over with laughter, it was hard to move from the wet, muddy woodchippings that I had crashed into, before Poppy and Max followed in quick succession after, leaping over me effortlessly, as they ran around to do it all over again.

But one turn on each slide was more than enough for me.

Mercury editor Kerry Coupe on one of the slides
Mercury editor Kerry Coupe on one of the slides

A wobble on the wobbly bridge followed before we decided to have a wander around the sculpture gardens and the Garden of Surprises where Poppy and Max, already wet to the bone, giggled infectiously as they ran through the water features.

Max in one of the tunnels
Max in one of the tunnels
Poppy on the slide
Poppy on the slide
Following the path to Burghley's Hide and Secrets playground
Following the path to Burghley's Hide and Secrets playground
Max jumping in a muddy puddle
Max jumping in a muddy puddle

So was the wait to ride the slide worth it? Well my sore bum would say otherwise but what I will remember most about this day was the look of delight the children wore all day long, proving that this is not just a summer attraction. Parents though, do remember to bring a brolly.



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