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Hillsborough with children: a park day with books, painting and making

Paths and benches between lawns and mature trees in Hillsborough Park.
Sheffield City Council

Hillsborough’s family options fit naturally around its park and Middlewood Road. Start outside among paths, playground equipment and the walled garden, then add library time, a café stop or a creative session nearby. The useful distinction is between places you can visit in their normal opening hours and organised activities that need a particular date, table booking or ticket. RivelinCo’s own programme and its independent partners give the neighbourhood more than one creative voice.

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Leave time for the park itself

Hillsborough Park gives a family day room to breathe. The council describes relatively flat ground, mature trees and open lawns, with a playground that includes toddler and junior swings and climbing units. Older children and teenagers have a climbing forest, while the free-to-use pump track offers a different kind of outdoor challenge.

The walled garden and paths offer a quieter alternative to playground time. The park is always open and there is no admission charge, but individual facilities and organised sessions have separate arrangements. Pay-and-display car parks are reached from Parkside Road and Hawksley Avenue. Use the exact activity meeting point rather than assuming every park event starts by the same entrance.

Fit books around the library’s opening

The library occupies Hillsborough Hall, making it a natural indoor companion to a park visit. Its ordinary opening includes Saturdays from 10am to 4pm, but there is a daily lunch closure between 1pm and 2pm and Thursday is closed. The council also lists occasional late openings: on Wednesday 11 November 2026 the library opens at 2pm.

For younger children, the published timetable offers Friday Babytime and Tuesday Storytime; Chatterbooks is listed on the last Saturday of the month. These are programmes, not a promise that a particular school-holiday occurrence is running. Ask the branch about current arrangements on 0114 203 9529 before building the whole day around a group.

Make something that comes home later

Pottering Around, at 52 Middlewood Road, welcomes all ages to its ordinary pottery-painting sessions. Children can choose a mug, plate, bowl or figure and experiment with colours, with help available from the studio team. The shelf price is the price paid: there is no extra studio or painting fee, and the owner gives a typical item range of about £10–£50.

Book ahead for weekends and school holidays. A table is yours for one hour and forty-five minutes, and a return visit to finish a piece costs £4. Leave the pottery for glazing and firing: normal collection is about seven days later, sometimes around ten during busy periods. This is not a same-day takeaway craft. The studio’s adult-only evening cocktail events are separate from its family painting sessions.

Use the creative spaces through their public programme

RivelinCo’s Neighbourhood Arts Space is at 96–100 Middlewood Road, opposite Hillsborough Bookshop near the edge of the park. It hosts public exhibitions and activities as well as being an office and hire space. Choose an advertised activity rather than assuming continuous drop-in access. The owner lists wheelchair access, an induction loop, a quiet room and an accessible toilet; baby changing is still described as coming soon.

Partner activities have their own organisers and conditions. Link Learning’s Out of This World exhibition combines primary-school artwork with a space-themed art activity. Sheffield Sling Library’s stay-and-play offers quick carrier help, cloth-nappy advice and time with other parents. For that social, families set their own donation, with £3, £5 and £8 suggested contributions; advanced carrying skills require a separate appointment.

Add a café stop without confusing the branches

Depot Bakery’s Coach House café is inside the park’s Gathering Ground, not at its separate Burton Road address. The owner lists daily opening from 9am to 4pm, with the kitchen closing at 3pm. Reservations are recommended, but walk-ins and takeaway orders are accepted, so it can work as either a planned brunch or a shorter pastry stop.

Food and drinks are bought separately from park admission and organised events. Leave enough time for the library’s lunch closure, and keep a pottery collection visit separate from the day you paint. These small timing differences matter more than trying to fit every option into one outing.

Choose an actual date, then check its conditions

Use the current calendar for seasonal plans. The reviewed exhibition date is Wednesday 28 October 2026, a free drop-in from 10am to 3pm. November brings separately advertised Sling Library socials and council tree planting; December has the free-entry festive makers market at the Pavilion. Shopping, refreshments and raffle purchases at the market are extra, and the stallholder application deadline is not a visitor deadline.

For a Sling Library visit, request any particular carrier by 2pm on the Tuesday before your session. For tree planting, wear outdoor clothing; the organiser supplies tools and refreshments, and its booking closes at 9.30am on the event morning. Follow the exact event’s current booking page before travelling, particularly for anything happening today.

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