The Landmark Forrest Adventure Park is well known for being great fun in the summer. But what about the winter months? We went along last weekend to find out!
From 31st October to March the manned attractions in the park are closed. Fortunately for us, Piglet is too young for any of them anyway so we decided we’d head along and see what else they had to offer!
The prices in the winter are much lower, £6.75 for an adult and £5.75 for a child. Children aged 3 and under are free. For that price you get full access to the site and can wander around for as long as you like.
We were there with some friends, so there were 4 adults, a 1 year old and Piglet at just 8 months. We started out by going into the Bamboozeleum. Piglet slept through the first part, which was a real shame as I think he would have loved it! It is a set of rooms with different optical illusions, some weird, some funny and some that it was tough to work out how they did it!
The first room was mirrors and lights and our friends little boy was mesmerised. It was followed by a thermal camera and a wall where you could “catch” your shadow – both of which were far more interesting to the adults!
There was an electricity room, with a few exhibits which conducted electricity. The warning on the door stated you could get a small electric shock from some of them which made me a bit jumpy – but we certainly didn’t feel anything.
I think my favourite part of the Bamboozeleum was the UV paintings. There was one corridor filled with them!
We then headed outside to have a wander through the woods. We took the treetop trail and the red squirrel trail. They were both fully wheelchair accessible, which was great since we had two buggies with us!
At the end of the trail there is a wildlife feeding area. There were plenty birds to watch but unfortunately no squirrels on this occasion! I think the cold was keeping them away and warm in their little homes instead. It probably didn’t help that we didn’t have the patience to stand quietly for very long.
We then wandered along to the Wonder Wood. There are 3 cabins which appear to defy the laws of physics. There is a spinning vortex tunnel, which had the guys staggering around when they came out of it……. and then they went straight back in. A funny slanted room, and a growing/shrinking room.
We had fun taking photos and generally larking around. We were the only ones in there which was fab as there was no waiting around for our turn! Outside of the cabins there are also some extra things to look at, but they don’t operate in the winter months.
Another short walk through the woods and we came to the fire tower. I opted not to go up it. I went up it on a school trip as a child and had a bit of a drama at the top because I hate heights! The boys went up though – but unfortuneately thats when our camera battery died because I had forgotten to charge it. Whoops!
We popped into the Forest Restaurant to feed the boys their lunch….. and then ended up ordering food for ourselves too. There was a microwave for heating up baby’s food which was really handy. A little kids play area is in the restaurant to keep fidgety little ones too! There are also picnic tables outside if you would like to take your own lunch or snacks with you.
After lunch we headed back outside. There was a really big play park with some cool slides and a climbing area. It was all to big for our boys, but Piglet did have his first turn on a small slide. It was a bit more exciting for us than for him though I think!
The last part of Landmark that we did was the Lost Labyrinth. It wasn’t as easy as we thought it would be! There was a tower at the centre which is partially wheel chair and buggy accessible. During the summer months I believe it is more interactive, but it was still fun without all of that.
The rain was coming so we made a pretty swift exit after that!
I was pleasantly surprised at how much there was to do in Landmark even when most of the main attractions aren’t operating. It was really quiet which meant we weren’t crowded when walking around or in the attractions and didn’t have to wait for our turn. Just the way I like it 🙂
