While Easter egg hunts in the garden and eating chocolate eggs are always a nice way to spend the bank holiday weekend, your children may require something more to burn off the sugar rush.
From bunnies and forests, to dragons and the Mad Hatter, we have collated a list of eight Easter-themed activities taking place in the Harrogate district over the holidays that will keep you and your children hopping.
Free craft workshop at Fountains Abbey
If your child is looking to get creative, an Easter craft workshop could be for them.
Swanley Grange, at Fountains Abbey, is hosting a free workshop where you and your children can make your very own sheep badge.
The workshops will be held daily from 11am – 3pm, until Sunday April 16.
All ages are welcome. The event is free, but normal admission prices to Fountains Abbey apply.
Family tickets start at £27.
Find more information on the National Trust website.
Make decorations for free
Ripon charity, Jennyruth Workshops, is inviting visitors to Fountains Abbey to join them in creating an Easter decoration.
Jennyruth provides adults with learning disabilities with a variety of valuable skills, including crafts.
The workshop is free and welcomes families to drop in for some seasonal fun.
Join them at Swanley Grange on Wednesday April 12, from 11.30am – 2.30pm.
The event is free, but normal abbey admission charges apply.
Children’s entry starts at £9.
Click here for more information.
Mad Hatter & Friends Tea Party
If your children fancy a taste of wonderland this Easter, Rascal Entertainment’s Mad Hatter’s Tea Party is a good option.
The event will take place at the Crown Hotel in Harrogate on Good Friday.
Children can expect cookie decorating, on-stage entertainment, face painting and a visit from the Easter bunny – all under the same roof as the Hatter himself.
Family tickets start at £47.
The tea party will run from 12pm – 2pm.
Find more information here.
Mother Shipton’s Easter Bunny Tipi Trail
Mother Shipton’s Easter Bunny Tipi Trail is a place where “every bunny’s welcome”
Children are invited to follow the clues, peep inside the bunny houses and even discover giant eggs.
The trail will also include Easter stories, told by a storyteller, as well as the chance to plant spring seeds.
The trail will run every day until Sunday April 16, from 10am to 5.30pm.
Dogs on leads are welcome everywhere, except for the playground.
Admission prices can be found here.
Himalayan Garden & Sculpture Park: The Dragon Egg Quest
For those hoping for a mythical Easter, The Dragon Egg Quest at the Himalayan Garden & Sculpture Park in Ripon may be a good option.
Children are invited to help storyteller, Dragonella, find a dragon’s egg hidden somewhere in the Himalayan Garden.
The activity will weave a tour of the gardens with some mystical Easter fun.
The quest is suitable for children ages 4 to 10 – children must be accompanied by an adult.
Tickets cost £10.
Adventure walks at RHS Harlow Carr
Whether your children need to let off a little more steam, or simply enjoy the beauty of nature, the adventure walks could be a good solution for all the family.
Families can immerse themselves in a guided walk of the grounds of the RHS site, accompanied by the Garden Detectives.
The activity is included in garden admission and is suitable for ages 3+.
The walk will take place on Tuesday April 11 at 11am, 1pm and 3pm.
Click here for more information.
The Great Knaresborough Bunny Hunt
The Great Knaresborough Bunny Hunt is a family-friendly way to keep your little bunnies hoppy this Easter.
Ceramic bunnies are hidden in local business around the town centre for you to find.
Families purchase a map to find the bunnies for £3 and all profits go to Lauren Doherty Road Safety talks, New Beginnings and The Memory Lane Café, Knaresborough.
Bunny-finders can expect a sweet prize in return, as well as an entry to win a £50 voucher for event organiser, Painting Pots.
The event will run daily until April 16 and maps can be purchased from Painting Pots.
Find more information on social media.
Birchfield: Easter at the Farm
Birchfield Farm’s Easter at the Farm activities could be a good way to entertain your little lambs.
Children can expect lamb feeding, an Easter trail, and a bouncy castle.
The Easter bunny will also be making an appearance over the bank holiday weekend.
Farmer Tom will be offering farm rides to visit the outside animals, including newly hatched chicks and ducklings.
The family-friendly farm will be offering seasonal activities until April 16, from 10am to 4pm.
Prices start from £6.95.
Find more information here.
Knaresborough café holds first dog tea partyA Knaresborough café has played host to its first dog tea party, with both canines and owners getting sweet treats.
Scarlett’s tea room welcomed 25 white and fluffy Coton de Tulears.
The dogs went for a walk around the town with their owners before heading to the tea room to enjoy cake for humans and treats and chews for the dogs.
Sarah Williams, who runs Scarlett’s, called the event “hugely fun.”
The dogs getting treats at the tearoom (photo: Sarah Williams)
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The dogs with their owners (photo: Sarah Williams)
The Coton de Tulear is a small dog which originates from Madagascar.
They are known to be affectionate and playful, and are closely related to the Bichon Frise and Maltese breeds.
The dog owners who came to Knaresborough on Sunday are members of a Facebook group that occasionally meets up to walk their dogs together.
Ms Williams heard about the group through Hayley Goddard, who also works at the café, and said “why don’t you come to Knaresborough.”
25 dogs were at the event with their owners (photos: Sarah Williams)
According to Ms Williams, Scarlett’s team room has long proved popular with dogs. She said:
“We’ve got so many dogs that come into the tearoom. Some of them have to coax their owners in… And the dogs know that they can come get a treat. So as soon as they’re [nearby], they’re in here dragging their owners.”
Thankfully, she added, all the dogs were well behaved.
The dogs first went for a walk around Knaresborough (photo: Sarah Williams)
Ripon Cathedral has hosted a tea party at which guests represented every year of her Queen’s 70-year reign.
The 70 attendees ranged in age from one-year-old Hugo Krippner to Lynn Gray, who was born in 1952.
Each invitee brought a guest with them and in total, 150 people were present for the event organised by Canon Aisla Newby and supported by a large team of volunteers
At your tea service … the volunteers ensured guests were topped up with tea and buns.
Another canon of the cathedral, Charles Dodgson, had a son, also named Charles, who wrote under the name Lewis Carroll and was the author of the world famous children’s classic Alice in Wonderland, which featured the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party.
Today’s gathering was well-organised in contrast to Carroll’s fictional and chaotic Mad Hatter event and the guests marked the monarch’s reign in an elegant and respectful manner.
Ms Gray who travelled to Ripon from Grassington, told the Stray Ferret:
“It’s an absolute privilege to be here, joining with different generations of people to celebrate the Queen’s jubilee and her incredible service to this country.”
For one-year-old Hugo, whose father Dr Ronny Krippner is Ripon Cathedral’s director of music, high tea was taken in a high chair and today’s get together will be a memory in the family album that he can look back on in future years.
Dr Krippner, whose wife Audrey and three-year-old daughter Sophie also attended, said:
“We are delighted to be part of an occasion which has historic significance for this community and the country.”
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