Set on top of Lansdown hill, overlooking the famous spa town, Bath Racecourse is in a stunning location. This historic race track boasts over 200 years of racing history. It is known for it’s challenging course, and was the scene of a notorious attempted racing fraud in the 1950s. Having undergone a huge refurbishment last year, it opened it’s gates for the first meet of the season on Good Friday. To celebrate the start of the season Bath Racecourse hosted a family friendly race day which we were lucky enough to be invited to.
I have never taken the kids to see horse racing before, so had no idea if they’d enjoy it, but I needn’t have worried. There was loads of entertainment provided for the kids, and lots of other families there. It all added up to a wonderful summer fete atmosphere in the family area.
The family entertainment was ideally situated right on the edge of the track, allowing parents to watch the races while still keeping sight of the kids. There was face-painting, bouncy castles and pony rides to keep the kids entertained, but the area my kids loved the most was the circus skills area.
As well as the live music being provided in other areas of the race course, we loved this roaming trio in their smart blazers.
And these wonderful children’s entertainers hosting games at the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party. Although my kids are a little old for this type of entertainment now, it was clear that their audience were totally captivated every time we passed them.
Turns out that none of us are too old for petting, so we spent lots of time with the adorable farm animals. We now have miniature ponies, donkeys, goats and miniature piglets added to the list of pets that the kids want.
The whole complex is compact, making it easy to move around the site. We could walk down to the winners enclosure to watch the race commentators being filmed for the TV, and the horses being paraded, and move back to the family area with ease.
Bath Racecourse offers all facilities you would expect, with a range of bars and dinning options to suit all tastes. Sadly my dream of sitting on the Roof Terrace sipping champagne was short-lived, with the kids opting for burgers and ice-creams at the track side instead! It should be noted that our gambling laws do not allow children to be involved in any aspect of placing a bet. This means that children can not be seen to be choosing a horse, even if it is the parent who then places the bet. Hubby and I did have a little flutter, and a couple of small wins which was a lovely bonus to the day. It’s not often we take the kids out for the day and come back with more money than we left with!
2 comments
Wow Sarah, that sounds like such a great way to spend a day. It must have been so interesting seeing the horses racing and parading around before the time. They’re such impressive creatures. I wish they would do something similar here in South Africa. We have an annual event, the Durban July, but it’s become a fashion parade and the kids always seem so bored with us grown ups parading in our fancy costumes. The Bath Racecourse sounds like so much more fun for everyone.
It was a lovely event for the kids Michelle. We have quite a lot of ‘fancy’ meets here in the UK too, and I was lucky enough to go to a ‘ladies day’ with some old girlfriends earlier this year which was brilliant fun, but certainly wouldn’t have suited the kids at all. I was really impressed with how Bath Racecourse catered for families – it really was a lot of fun 🙂