Ness – A Play Park in the Dunes, Soft Play and Bowling
A day.
The route
Here's a whole day for young families at the very top of Lewis, with everything within a few miles.
Eoropie Dunes Park is a free play park in the dunes beside the beach, and Spòrsnis up the road has soft play for the under-fives and ten-pin bowling for everyone else. Lunch is home-made soup and toasties in the café at the Ness Historical Society.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
None of ours is close by: the nearest is Harris Hideaway, 43 miles away. Sleeps 2.
Book a bowling lane online on Spòrsnis's website before you go, Monday to Saturday: there are only two lanes.
The day
Ness
Swings, slides and a zip wire in the dunes by the beach first, then soft play and bowling under a roof a minute up the road. Lunch is in the old Cross School, with a look round its museum after.
About four and a half hours
Eoropie Dunes Park
Eoropie Dunes Park is on the edge of Eoropie at the top of Lewis, off the B8013, with parking right beside it. It's free and open all year, run by the local charity GAIN, and it's a lovely place for children to let off steam: a fully fenced playground for the little ones and, out in the dunes, a zip wire, tunnels, an embankment slide, a maze, swings and an adventure trail. The sandy beach of Traigh Shanndaigh is just over the dunes. There's a donation box if you'd like to help keep it going. It's open ground facing the Atlantic, so wrap everyone up, bring a drink and a snack, and keep it short on a wild day. The nearest toilets are at Spòrsnis, the next stop.
Spòrsnis
Spòrsnis is a couple of minutes' drive south-east on the B8013, at Lionel School, with parking at the centre. This community-run leisure centre is open Monday to Saturday from 9am to 7pm all year. The soft play is for pre-school children only, £2.50 a session with no time limit, and shoes come off at the door. Older children can bowl on what Spòrsnis says are the only ten-pin lanes in the Western Isles, at £3.50 a game for under-16s and £5.50 for adults at the time of writing. There are only two lanes, so book one online before you go. You're welcome to bring your own snacks, there's a kitchen by the alley for making tea, and there are toilets. Ring 01851 810 039 to ask about getting a buggy into the soft play.
About 5 min by car
Comunn Eachdraidh Nis
Lunch
Lunch is about seven minutes' drive south-west at Comunn Eachdraidh Nis, the Ness Historical Society, in the old Cross School at North Dell: look for the blue signs as you come into the village. Its café opens Monday to Friday from 11am to 4pm, with the kitchen closing at 3pm, and you just walk in. Expect soup with Stag Bakery bread, toasties, paninis, baked potatoes, and hot dogs with chips, with hot chocolate and toppings to finish. Afterwards, the museum is free, with donations welcome. There's accessible parking at the front and side and a baby changing station in the accessible toilet. Hours can change with the seasons, so ring 01851 810 377 first. If the café is full, there are picnic benches at the front and back of the building.
If it rains
On a wet day, give the play park a miss and spend longer at Spòrsnis: the soft play, the bowling and the games area are all indoors, and so are lunch and the museum.
Worth a detour
- Butt of Lewis Lighthouse
The Butt of Lewis lighthouse is about a mile north of the play park, at the end of the road, with a few parking spaces beside it: the red-brick tower at the northern tip of Lewis. The cliffs are unfenced and crumbly, so hold small hands and stay well back from the edge.
Where to stay
Photographs by Donald MacLeod, Gareth Seabrook and William Atyeo via Google