Roarr! The Norfolk Day Out We Love… Even When It Drives Us Mad!
There are some places that just become part of the family rhythm, aren’t there? The ones you return to again and again because they slot so neatly into real life and when somewhere embraces every kind of day: sunny days, drizzly days, days when the kids are bouncing off the walls and you need somewhere that can absorb all that energy without absorbing your sanity, well, what could be better?!
For us, that place is Roarr! in Lenwade. We love it so much we have an annual pass, and honestly, it’s one of the easiest decisions we make every year. It’s the all‑weather thing that seals the deal: the indoor soft play is a godsend on colder, wetter days, and knowing it’s there means we never have to second‑guess a visit. Just pile in the car and go and when it’s already paid for, a couple of hours after football on a Saturday which could otherwise be absorbed into a screen is fantastic!
On hotter days like we are so gloriously experiencing now, it’s the splash park that steals the show. The kids would live in it if they could. Which is why it’s so maddening that it closes at 4pm when the park itself closes at 5. That whole last hour feels like someone’s quietly sweeping fun into a cupboard while we’re still standing there in our swimsuits and for day ticket holders they’ve paid for that witching hour very visibly. The foam party that follows, in theory, should be the consolation prize. And in the past it has been brilliant, genuinely loads of fun, just last school holiday I was wowed by it. But the other day it felt lacklustre, like they were going through the motions and using it as a neat way to usher everyone out of the water. If they’re going to do it, do it properly or do it later. Otherwise, abandon it entirely and let the splash park stay open as long as possible because on a hot day it’s the highlight, full stop.
It’s the same slightly flat feeling with everything closing early. The soft play shuts half an hour before the park, the splash park, high ropes, slides etc. an hour before, and it leaves you with that “booking fee” irritation! You know when someone adds on a charge at the end and you think, just build it into the price and be honest. If everything closes earlier, just say so. Don’t short‑change us by stealth.
But then Roarr! goes and redeems itself with something brilliant, like the new Fossil Fuels slide. It’s awesome! Genuinely awesome, and it brings Roarr! into territory that could grow their audience because it’s inviting for much bigger kids now. The only snag is the queue. Three quarters of an hour is laboriously boring, especially when you then wander over to High Ropes and find the same wait despite walking straight onto the area of safety instructions. They’ve prioritised staff oddly, with loads of them up on the ropes but only one teenager doing the harnesses, badly, so having to redo them. It makes the whole thing a moot point. Still, once you’re up there, it’s great (for them, I am not one for heights and stay grounded where I can to take pictures).
We did have a great day, though. We always do. The bouncing pillow is still a favourite (until it shuts early, of course), and the new slide was worth the wait even if we only had the stamina to queue once. We’re lucky because the annual pass means we can go back and back and back, but a friend who paid handsomely on the day (over £100 for her family) felt short‑changed. Roarr! does things brilliantly, but it’s often despite their lack of customer focus. If they added just a touch of that, they’d be laughing. Every time I talk about Roarr! on Instagram stories I get messages with similar grumbles, and people still mention how badly annual pass holders were treated over lockdown. Customers don’t forget. I wasn’t a pass holder then, but I’ve heard the story so often I could recite it.
One massive positive, though, is, rather surprisingly from all my previous accounts, the new food. Historically terrible and wildly expensive, it seems to have had a much needed upgrade. We had a pizza the other day and were genuinely impressed. My friends tried sausage rolls and nachos and again, impressively faultless aside from being incredibly grabby with the cost (there’s no need for it when profit can be made extensively while still not fleecing the customer). However, the quality is a mega turnaround that proves Roarr! can listen and make positive change. Hopefully they’ll do the same with the other grumbles that so many of us share.
All in, we still recommend the annual pass, especially with the VAT discount making tickets cheaper right now. Plus you get a “return 50% off voucher” this summer, meaning we may very well come back and bring Daddy (who doesn’t have a pass) a couple of times this holiday. We’ll see.