Tong Garden Centre is, well, a garden centre (!), but it is so much more besides a place to pick up some shrubs and a bit of topsoil.

Hidden away down the side and just behind the main garden centre, you’ll find Grasshoppers, Tong’s amazing outdoor adventure playground for kids, both big and little (and adults who think they’re still kids!).

Our little girl, still being under a year old, was admitted free of charge, and with adults also free to enter, we were already pretty happy with our Grasshoppers experience before we’d even seen what lay ahead!

After taking a quick look around, we headed to the main playground for younger children and spent a few minutes pushing our little girl on the swings. With the sun starting to shine and the morning turning into a lovely one, we spent some time playing with her in the huge sand pits (whilst trying to encourage her not to shove fistfuls of sand in her mouth – a tricky one!).

Older kids zipped around on coin-operated racing cars, and children even older than that seemed (rightly) fascinated by the giant jumping pillow, a rather fascinating sight if you’ve never seen one in use before!

If you get hungry during your morning at Grass Hoppers, the bacon butties we saw being served from the cute food van by the sand pit smelled amazing, and for kids who really deserve a treat, they serve 14 flavours of award-winning ice cream, all made without artificial colours at a farm in East Yorkshire.

All in all, for those with kids under one, why not try out Tong: it’s free! For those with older little ones, it will cost you £3.50 per child, but when you see what your little one can get out of a few hours here when they’re able to run around on their own, you’ll probably decide it’s money very well spent.

One final tip: on your way back to the car park, pop by the cake and bread section of the little food store in the garden centre; it’s full of tasty treats and there are often free samples to tempt you.

Where to find it: Tong Ln, Tong Village, Bradford BD4 0RY