Our Day Out at Old Down and HorseWorld
Old Down Country Park
Tockington
BS32 4PG
Old Down Country Park is a brand new South West tourist attraction having only opened this tourist season. It has a relaxed feel to it and has put entertaining the family at its very heart. There are a range of animals including poultry, pigs, ponies, rabbits and wallabies.
A large adventure playground keeps kids from tots onwards entertained and spread throughout the park are other family friendly areas including toys, trampolines, bouncy castle and sandpit.
Having transformed itself from a pick your own, it still has some work to do. There are only two toilet cubicles. Yes, just two toilet cubicles.
We didn’t like that someone had been smoking at the picnic bench by the sandpit and dropped the ends into the sand, but what can you do about some people?
Overall, this is a wonderful place to take the family. Not over crowded, no gift shops or chocolate vending machines rammed in your face. It is very reasonably priced and our test children ran themselves into exhaustion.
Winter opening times to be confirmed
Prices from £2.50
www.olddownpark.co.uk
HorseWorld
Whitchurch
Bristol
BS14 0QJ
It seems that there is a tourist attraction for everything, even a world of horses, but this place is more than just a petting zoo. HorseWorld is actually a charity that rescues and cares for horses, ponies and donkeys that need help. The place is not a retirement home for the animals and the vast majority of them are re-homed where possible.
What HorseWorld has done is to turn their work into a visitor centre, gaining vital extra funds through admission fees. Once inside, there is plenty to see and do. Horses to groom, farmyard animals to see, picnic areas, exhibits on horses and of course plenty of indoor and outdoor play areas for the children.
HorseWorld is a great place to take younger children, who will get lots from getting close to the animals and burning off energy in plays areas.
Play areas are unsupervised though so parents do need to get off their behinds and stop little Johnnie and Olivia from causing mayhem behind their backs.
Prices from £3.95
www.horseworld.org.uk