Bewilderwood, The Curious Treehouse Adventure.
For years I have heard how amazing this place is. How fun it was. Photographs I've seen on Facebook show families having an amazing time and people generally tend to visit two or three times a year.
I'm quite a girly girl. I can't climb trees, I won't even attempt to, I don't like heights and I don't like assault courses.
But seeing as we've made a rule that we need to stop thinking of ourselves when it comes to days out and think about the boys I suggested we visit Bewilderwood for Harry's Second Birthday.
The week of Harry's birthday we booked our tickets (these were complimentary) and had a good look at the website. Although the heights and active side of it didn't attract me at first, I liked the fairytale woodland story that has been created around the attraction.
As soon as you drive in you are taken in by the theme of the attraction. Although it's not completely in your face, it's subtle but really lovely.
We walked down to the gate and was surprised to see a 'Happy Birthday Harry' message on the chalk information board. This really made us smile and was a great start to our special day out.
There are three things I'm particularly fussy about when visiting attractions:
1- Cleanliness. For a woodland adventure park I expected the odd piece of rubbish to be flying around, and various cigarette butts, but there was NOTHING. The whole place was spotless.
2- Toilets. Ok the toilets are tiny cabins which can be expected in the middle of the woods and although basic they are usable. (leave your bags with your husband/family as there isn't much room to move within the cubicles).
3- Staff. Probably one of my biggest bug bears, and most likely to get me complaining, is rude, grumpy, unapproachable staff. Every single person we encountered at Bewilderwood was exactly as I would hope. Happy, friendly, and any member of staff we passed as we walked around would acknowledge us and ask if we were having a good day.
There is SO much to do there. Really. Every way you walk there is a new bridge to cross, ladder or steps to climb, slide to go down, log to balance on and walk across.
Harry was probably a little to small for half of it but there was plenty of other things for him to do, and it didn't stop him from having a go.
Going back to the mention of fantastic staff, we went on the little boat trip around the scaaaary lake. The 'driver' of the boat tells a story about the woods and the Crocklebog, we couldn't help but wonder how many times a day he has to tell this same story but he was a brilliant storyteller and was still cheery at 4 o clock despite being out in the sun all day.
We usually take our pushchair for Harry to sit in once he gets tired but we didn't take it here. There are lots of places to sit down for a rest as you walk around and I really think children will be far too busy to even want to rest.
It's not too far to get back to the car park if you need to grab a pushchair of course.
We decided to buy lunch there. Although it was yummy I think next time we would take a picnic. This is one regret we had, not due to the food they had on offer, but because the location is perfect for a picnic.
Coffee lovers must grab a coffee from the Munch Bar, it was beautiful!
We all had an amazing day, yes, even girly girl me! The highlight for me was discovering the little houses high in the treetops, and the tiny steps and doors at the bottom of the trees.
There's the opportunity to build a den.
The boys pretty much loved every single thing. I think at 2 and 4 they are now the perfect age to enjoy Bewilderwood.
These are four of our 'top tips':
Stay late: When we went it was quite quiet with the odd school group but I think with places like this people tend to leave earlier because they are so tired. Our trick is to arrive later and leave later, you get the majority of the attraction to yourself therefore more chance for the children to get a chance to go on the slides without having to queue for ages.
Wipes and anti-bacterial gel: As expected hands get dirty, as do feet if you wear flat sandles like I did.
Take a picnic: As I mentioned before this is the perfect place for a picnic. There are various picnic tables situated around the woodland and grassy areas too.
Insect repellent: A must! We suffered with a few bad insect bites, obviously not a complaint as there's nothing the attraction can do about gnats and mosquitos. We will definitely be taking insect repellent with us next time though.
I honestly cannot praise this place enough and we cannot wait to go back!
