Soft play has become somewhat of a necessary evil in our house. My 2-year-old Ivy is a complete wild child, loves running and climbing, and seems to have endless energy. I’m not the biggest fan of soft play, but sometimes needs must, and I prefer to visit places that are suitable for a toddler, or fairly small so I don’t lose her! We recently visited Belle’s Playbarn in Towcester, which has a farm/barnyard theme to it.
Belle’s Playbarn is very similar to Little Liscombe farmyard soft play that we’ve visited previously but on a much larger scale, with more spaces to climb around, more slides and more activities to play with.
The playbarn is set up with a large climbing frame with two slides, a climbing wall, tunnels, and lots of soft play shapes including chickens, hay bales, carrots and radishes! There’s also a smaller section for younger children with a busy board, mirrors, and some soft play shapes to play with. Belle’s Playbarn is set up so that there’s a cafe area overlooking the play area – so great if you have confident children that can independently play!
Ivy is a very confident 2-year-old so as soon as we went in she was off and climbing up things, and whizzing down slides. The soft play equipment is set out that it’s easy to climb for active kids, and there are lots of other activities set out for children that aren’t as confident at climbing. There are two slides, one you need to climb up higher to get to than the other, and various different ways to climb up to each slide.
One of the areas Ivy enjoyed the most was the ball chute, where you could put balls in and it would blow them down a chute – we were playing with this for ages! We also enjoyed a little area where you could put carrot and radish soft play shapes into different sized holes.
There’s also a cafe in Belle’s Playbarn, designed that you order through a QR code straight to your table. We didn’t try the food during our visit as the kitchen closed at 3.30 pm, and we were there for the 2.30 pm – 4.30 pm slot, but we ordered a couple of drinks and cakes. I found it was quite pricey for what we got, but Ivy was happy to have a tractor shaped gingerbread biscuit.
We had great fun during our visit to Belle’s Playbarn, it’s one of the better soft play venues we’ve visited. The sessions are two hours long and I found that was the right amount of time for Ivy, although the sessions were quite busy. We really enjoyed it, and I love the theme which made it great fun for some imaginative play! It’s somewhere we would definitely return to again.
How to Find it
Belle’s Playbarn is inside The Bell Plantation, Watling St, Towcester NN12 6GX – use the map below for directions. There’s plenty of parking outside.
Good to Know
- Sessions are 2 hours long, running from Monday to Saturday 9.30am – 11.30am, 12pm – 2pm and 2.30pm – 4.30pm and Sunday’s 10am – 12pm, 12.15pm – 2.15pm, and 2.30pm – 4.30pm
- It costs from £3.50-5 for 1-2 year olds, £6-7.50 for 2-4 year olds, £7-8.50 for 5 years plus, the first adult costs £1, and additional adults range from £1-2.50
- Children under 1 are free when visiting with another paying child
- Booking in advance is recomended to avoid disapointment!
- The cafe serves breakfast, lunch, and snacks – but bear in mind the cafe closes a 3.30pm! There is still cake, hot drinks and cold drinks being served until 4.30pm
I Enjoyed Belle’s Playbarn, Where Can I Go Next?
After visiting Belle’s Playbarn we had a mooch around the rest of the Bell Plantation garden centre. There are lots of lovely gifts, indoor plants, a cafe, a food hall and a poultry centre! Ivy loved going to see the chickens when we visited, which kept her entertained for a while! There are also a few other shops around outside the Bell Plantation which is fun to look around – our favourite is the fish and reptile centre – we take Ivy to buy food for our pet snake, and she loves looking at all the fish and reptiles.
