Little Berries
Quick Info
📍 Location: Littlebury Village Hall, Walden Road, Littlebury, Saffron Walden, CB11 4TA
🕒 Hours: Thursday 10–11:30am · runs all year, including school holidays
👶 Best for: 0–5 years; new walkers and busy toddlers
💷 Price: £3 (you can pay two weeks ahead)
🟣 Booking: Drop-in, no booking
🅿️ Parking: A few awkward spaces outside; easy street parking about 1 minute away
☕ Facilities: Tea, coffee and biscuits; nappy changing; small foyer; garden opens in warm weather
🥜 Food: Children's snack (fruit and breadsticks) mid-morning
Prices and hours checked late October 2026 — confirm on their site before you set off.
Playgroup Lowdown
One of my own regular Thursday groups and a real Walden Weekly favourite. Little Berries is warm, easy going and properly welcoming, with a big hall full of toys, snack time, coffee and biscuits, and most importantly it runs all year round, including the school holidays.
What it’s like
Little Berries is one of those groups I can recommend from actually going myself. We are there most weeks, and it is one of the most consistently warm and welcoming groups I have found locally.
Rachel, who runs it, is brilliant. She is incredibly kind and hands on with the children, while somehow still managing to make parents and carers feel looked after too. The whole thing feels genuinely community led rather than overly organised or formal.
The hall is a big open space filled with donated toys, including train sets, little kitchens, a play house set up, ride on cars and plenty of things to scoot around on. There is enough variety that toddlers can keep moving from one thing to another without getting bored too quickly.
For me, one of the best things about it is that it works just as well if you are coming because your toddler needs to burn off some energy as it does if you are a new mum who mostly needs a coffee, a chat and a reason to get out of the house.
Good for
• New walkers and busy toddlers
• Babies through to preschoolers
• Parents who want a friendly chat
• A low pressure first playgroup
• School holiday Thursdays
Vibe
• Warm and welcoming
• Community led
• Relaxed drop in
• Genuinely caring
• Big open hall with lots of space
Snack time
About halfway through the morning, the children sit down together on little chairs with their own small plates. There is usually a mix of fruit and breadsticks, and the routine of everyone stopping for snack is genuinely lovely.
For the grown ups there is tea, coffee and biscuits, which makes a surprisingly big difference when you have been chasing a toddler around for an hour.
Outside space
In warmer weather, the back of the hall can be opened up so children can spill out into the small garden and grass area. It turns the morning into much more of a mini outing and gives more energetic toddlers another space to explore.
Parking & practical bits
Parking directly outside the hall is limited to a handful of spaces and they can be a little awkward to get in and out of. They tend to go quickly, and regulars often leave them for families who really need to be right by the entrance.
The good news is that Littlebury is quiet and nearby street parking is usually straightforward. You can normally park along the road and be at the hall within about a minute.
• Buggy access: fine, although many regulars leave prams in the car because the walk is so short.
• Foyer: small area for coats and bags.
• Changing: comfortable nappy changing facilities available.
• Wet days: the entrance can get a little muddy, so leaving the buggy in the car can make life easier.
Walden Weekly tip
If it is your first time, arrive 5 or 10 minutes early. There is no strict start and nobody minds when you arrive, but it gives you a better shot at easy parking and a minute to get settled before the room fills up.
And this is the one to remember in the school holidays: Little Berries runs all year round, so when lots of term time groups disappear, Thursday morning still has somewhere to go.
How to contact
There is a local WhatsApp group, but it is best shared with permission. The easiest option is to turn up on a Thursday and ask Rachel or one of the regulars to add you.
The Facebook page is also useful for updates and cancellations. The admin is currently being transferred, so parts of the page can look a little out of date, but the group itself is still very much running.
Before you go
Little Berries is unusually reliable because it runs through the school holidays too. It is still worth checking Facebook if the weather is particularly bad or you are travelling specifically for the group, as any one off cancellation will normally be posted there.
Contact
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