Jane's Midlife Journey

There are several soft play venues in and around Bournemouth. A recent addition, opening in December 2023, is The Hideout in Canford Heath on the outskirts of Poole. This friendly, family run soft play area and café quickly became a firm favourite with us.

How to get to The Hideout

The Hideout is located at The Neighbourhood Centre in Canford Heath, opposite the entrance to Asda. Canford Heath is 6 miles north east of Bournemouth along the A3049/Canford Heath Road.

By bus

The centre is easily accessed by public transport: Bus number 18 from Bournemouth and buses number 25/26 from Poole stop at Asda Supermarket, a 4 minute walk away.

Access

The Hideout is adjacent to the car park with level, ground floor access. There is limited space for pushchairs inside.

Parking

The Hideout is in the same complex as Asda, with a large, free car park. Convenient if you’re coming just to play or for combining a fun outing for a little one with a shopping trip.

Opening Times

Opening times may vary slightly due to parties, group bookings and dance classes. In general, The Hideout is open from Monday to Friday from 9 am with sessions starting at 9 am, 11 am and sometimes 1 pm. Each session is 1 hour 45 minutes, with a 15 minute break for cleaning in between.

On Saturdays, there may be sessions or short (1 hour) sessions available, depending on party bookings.

All sessions need to be booked online in advance. More details can be found here.

Price

There is a 3 tier pricing structure. Adults are free.

• Newborn – Free
• Crawling – £2.50
• Walking – £4.50

Suitable for age

The age restriction is 0 to 7 years, although I’d say it’s more suitable for the bottom end of that spectrum. It’s ideal for small children, but I think a 6 or 7 year old might find it a little dull.

Details

The small, cozy soft play area has a 2 storey cage with foam shapes, a porthole and a ball pit.

Orla particularly likes the porthole. Here she is demonstrating why they need to clean several times a day!

18 months on, and Orla is still loving that porthole.

There is a carpeted area, which has a slide, seesaw and bouncy animals. Next to this are boxes of toys and books, which can be explored from the comfort of the very fluffy carpet.

There are also some sensory toys, including this mesmerising colour changing fluorescent tube, which will keep little ones fascinated for ages, although recently, it appears to have lost its fish.

In addition to general entry sessions, The Hideout organises events such as:

• Discos
• Pop up sensory room
• Craft parties
• Meet Father Christmas
• Dance classes ranging from ballet and tap to street and cheerleading
• You can also hire the venue for birthday parties

We went to the Easter themed Messy Tots session for under twos. We had great fun with time on the soft play plus crafts (hand and footprint art and basket making) plus an Eater Egg hunt.

Food & Drink

The café serves hot & cold drinks, snacks and cakes. They also have sachets of baby food available.

Toilets/Changing Facilities

There is a large toilet with changing facilities. The toilet is well stocked with nappies, wipes etc. Note: There is just one toilet, so you may have to wait. I can imagine this isn’t ideal if you’re toilet training. However, with a limit of just 15 children per session, the wait is unlikely to be too long…

• Updated: May 2025

For more inspiration on things to do in and around Bournemouth with young children, check out my 101 Things to do in Bournemouth with Babies and Toddlers here.