Toboggan fun at Tallington Lakes

Tallington Lakes is only about 5 minutes from where I live, but it’s been completely off my radar as a place to take Little Miss. I know it’s very popular in summer with all the water sports, and in winter with the dry ski slope. But I thought those were all activities for adults and older children. That was until I found out about the tobogganing!

Tobogganing at Tallington Lakes

I went with my friend Kate and her Little Miss. I’m not actually sure the last time I laughed as much as I did while we were tobogganing. The girls giggled the whole way down every time, which made us laugh, then they had a couple of near misses (you can’t steer these things), which made us laugh even more.  Then, bless, my Little Miss toppled off at the bottom – and I just laughed even harder (she was fine, and thought the whole thing pretty funny as well).

For just £5 per person, you can go tobogganing on the nursery dry slope for an hour. The toboggans are a lot smaller than the traditional ones you use in the snow. These ones are really just a flat bit of plastic with handles at the side – but they go pretty fast!

I’d say it is an activity to do with 2 or more kids. I don’t think it would’ve been as much fun with just Little Miss on her own. And an hour was plenty long enough – both for the girls and us – walking up and down the ski slope was quite good exercise!

The Little Misses were happy to go down on the toboggans by themselves. The Tallington Lakes website says that as long as the kids can walk, they can go tobogganing. I think if Little Miss was younger (she’s now 2.5yrs) I would’ve gone down with her.

Although the dry ski slope is open year round, I would say it is more of an autumn/winter activity. Mainly because you do need to wear long trousers and tops – the slope is made up of a whole lot of very fine bristles which I think would really hurt on bare skin if you came off.

Playground at Tallington Lakes

There’s also quite a good kids’ playground at Tallington Lakes. We let the girls have a play after we finished tobogganing, but to be honest, they weren’t really up for it!

Other activities at Tallington Lakes

There’s a lot more to do at Tallington Lakes, including:

• Skiing and snowboarding on the dry slope (there are two slopes – the nursery one and the main one)
• Rock climbing tower
• Krazy carts
• Swimming pool
• Waterskiing, wakeboarding
• Jet skiing
• Sailing
• Windsurfing
• Canoeing and kayaking
• Camping and caravanning

See the Tallington Lakes website for more information on all these activities.

All the important bits

Location
Tallington Lakes is just off the A1175 (the main road between Stamford and Market Deeping) at Tallington. The postcode is PE9 4RJ.

Car parking
Car parking costs £3, which you need to pay at the gate. There is a barrier and a person in a booth collecting the money. You get a receipt and a token – hold onto both. The receipt enables you to get £3 off the cost of tobogganing and the token allows you to get back out!

There is plenty of car parking at the dry slope and elsewhere around the park. I don’t know how busy it gets in summer, but there did seem to be plenty of parking available.

Cost
Tobogganing for one hour costs £5 per person. You will get £3 off when you hand over your car parking receipt. For older kids there are tobogganing parties on the main slope every Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings (check website for times). This costs £8 per person.

Opening times
Tobogganing is available on the nursery slope whenever it is free during opening hours (see website for times). If they have skiing or snowboarding lessons on this slope, you may not be able to toboggan. It would pay to call before leaving home to check it is available; tel: 01778 347000.

Eating and drinking
There is a little café attached to the Pro Shop at the bottom of the dry slope, but it is only open Saturday and Sunday during winter. It serves light lunches (baguettes, etc) and snacks until about 3pm. There are a number of tables outside where you can eat your own packed lunch.

There is a fully catered restaurant by one of the lakes which is open for lunch Wednesday – Sunday.

Facilities
At the Pro Shop (bottom of the dry slope) there are toilets and baby changing facilities and they were nice and warm, in case you get a bit cold from being outside.

My ratings:

• Fun factor (kids): 5/5 – the giggles said it all!
• Fun factor (parents): 4/5
• Value for money: 4/5