Pensthorpe Natural Park – Easter 2019!

I blooming LOVE Pensthorpe Natual Park and have done ever since the first time we visited when Florence was a baby. Probably no bigger than Raffie is now I remember her having the most brilliant day and actually, I just have so many memories of the big two enjoying this place all weathers you’d think we visit all the time though we haven’t actually been for ages and not since Raffie was born – it was long overdue to introduce him to the place we think of for feeding big ducks and swans, an amazing soft play area and the most wonderful outdoor play park which has a fantastic water play – like no other in the form of a stream which winds its way through the entire play space. There are also slides here which are MEGA – I remember going on one when pregnant (technically I suppose Raffie has been to Pensthorpe in that case) and bumping at the bottom not having realised it was going to be quite so thrill seeking!

This week, for Pensthorpe’s Easter Eggstravaganza (6th – 22nd of April) where they are offering an EGGciting Easter Egg treasure hunt and Easter themed craft activities we met up with some best pals and headed to our fave nature reserve for some fun!

The nature walk is a long one and it would be my recommendation to do this first as when you come to the end it naturally brings you out next to the play areas and a flock of flamingos! There is much for the children to do on this walk including the stamp trail. Information given in fun and engaging ways, rivers and bridges to play Pooh Sticks over and lots of animals. It’s here that we like to feed the birds at the beginning – the wildlife is very friendly knowing food is in the offing and gave us many smiles before we’d even really started on the actual trail. For Easter there is also a special Easter egg hunt where you will match eggs to birds – informative AND fun as well as the regular stamp path and actually, this Easter, they are hiding one golden egg daily which will win the finder an annual family pass! We searched high and low for that egg to no avail and then the people just in front of us found it darn it!

And… When you do reach the end there are lots of places to play. It was VERY, VERY, VERY cold the day we visited so sadly pond dipping wasn’t going to happen for us but there is a wonderful area with raised ponds to sip in if you are so inclined or the weather is much better! There are also those glorious flamingos and other birds but we were so chilly we opted to just hit the playground before our allotted time in Hootz House, the indoor soft play which we desperately were looking forward to by the end of the trail just to get warm!

It was such a shame to miss the birds and dipping but we didn’t want to miss Wild Rootz, the outdoor play area and something has to give when frost bite is threatening (who’d have warranted it being April)! So we took to the outdoor play with enthusiasm and it made us forget just how cold we were for a tiny bit! Slides, rope swings, zip wires, a maze, diggers digging in sand, tunnels, bridges and a whole host more including that stream which winds through the entire playground ending in a little river where the dcks even come to have a splash as the kiddos play and this place was built for fun. I HAVE to go back on a sunny day… I really wanted the children to play here longer but the cold beat us after about half an hour which is in no way long enough to enjoy the delights on offer!

Now, by the time we went to Hootz House, a gorgeous indoor play space centred around wooden structures hiding slides and soft play, we would have accepted the mankiest and smelliest soft play in the world if it was warm… Thankfully Hootz House is the absolute antithesis of that little vision and is as clean as a whistle with very thoughtful seating for the parents who are on a mezzanine floor watching over the children as they play. We warmed up nicely in the last session of the day (sessions are booked and included in your entry price upon arrival) and the kiddos had a BRILLIANT time – although they did KEEP coming and wanting to sit with us for five minutes, individually, which meant we pretty much had a child with us the whole time and didn’t get to chat… We drove ourselves demented trying to get one thing discussed without the intrusion of little ears and became a mint tea down when one of them tipped it over but the man in the cafe took pity on me and brought me another one free of charge. It reminded us that days out with kids in tow aren’t always relaxing BUT, despite not ever finishing a single conversation that we started that day, my friend and I came away with warm hearts knowing we have wonderful children who make us laugh and laugh and laugh (as well as cry over spilt mint tea)!

Pensthorpe is a wonderful family day out and we think an Easter visit  is truly lovely – though we could have used a tiny bit more warmth in the air it has to be said!

Adult tickets this Easter are £10.95, children over 3 cost £9.95 and babies under the age of 3 go completely FREE while senior tickets are also £9.95 (I actually think I remember tickets as being more expensive the last time we visited so I would say this is an absolute bargain)!

We were invited to Pensthorpe Natural Park as guests of the park.