Stockeld Park’s Christmas Adventure Review
Stockeld Park
Christmas Adventure
22 October 2014 to 6 January 2015
Reviewed by Pamela Wright
We have just had a lovely family day out at Wetherby’s Stockeld Park today with our 5 children aged 9, 7, nearly 5 & our twin girls who just turned 4. I have heard lots of people talk about it but have never actually been myself before. We checked our sat nav and Stockeld Park is only 14 miles and just under 30 minute drive from Leeds. It was a really easy route there and the park was clearly signposted from around 4 miles away.
We arrived at 11am and the car park was already quite busy. There were some parking attendants directing people straight to spaces so there was no messing around. There was quite a long queue to get into the park but there were 4 booths open so we managed to get our tickets in under 10 minutes.
Once we collected our tickets we headed towards the “Enchanted Forrest”. There were quite a few different adventure playgrounds around the walk so we stopped in each of these to let the children play for a while. As well as the beautiful illuminated characters, trees and animals around the walk which looked beautiful there was also lots of fun and interactive things for the children to do which were all based around fantasy and fairytales. They were scattered throughout the walk and had different things to do from buttons to press, to making/listening to music, climbing up stairs and peeking through windows. The kids really enjoyed these.
When we had finished in the Enchanted Forest we headed off to have a look at the ice skating. It was quite busy and the kids were starting to get hungry as we had been in the forest for just over an hour so went to get our lunch. We took a packed lunch with us so didn’t manage to find out what the Woodland Café was like (although when we walked through it to use the toilets the place was absolutely packed with people waiting for tables).
Next on the list was Ice Skating, I have been before but when I was younger so I was quite excited but it took some coaxing from me and our children to get my husband to agree to it… There wasn’t a queue so we managed to get our skates straight away. I’m sooo glad we did though as the kids absolutely loved it (even though 3 of them wouldn’t let go of the sides all the way around). It was lots of fun. They have some little penguins for the younger children to use but unfortunately none of these were available. There were staff in high visibility jackets on the rink at all times keeping an eye out and helping people who were unsteady/nervous. They did a really good job too, there was an incident where somebody fell and banged their head, the member of staff spotted them straight away and picked him up and helped him off the rink to be checked over.
After our feet were safely back on a non-slippery surface we decided to treat ourselves to a nice hot drink from the snack hut near the Nordic ski hut then we made our way to the Maze. There was a sign on the outside with a contact number in case you needed assistance. We only spent about 25 minutes in the maze because the children were racing ahead in front, but we found the Tardis/Police Box and the Children of the World Globe.
After braving the ice skating we thought the Nordic Ski Trail looked like it would be fun and slightly easier so we went to collect our ski’s. We had to go into a cabin to get our shoes first, it was absolutely packed so the staff had a bit of a struggle to find the right sizes for all of us but after a couple of minutes we were out the other door and collecting our ski’s and sticks, the staff were really friendly here too and helped us get our ski’s on. They were quite easy to use and our eldest two took to it really quickly and darted off in front. However, if there was an award for spending the most time falling over then it would definitely have gone to our son, bless him, he found it funny so just kept picking himself up and carrying on. I know my eldest will want to read this so I have to add that YES I did fall over too (just the once mind) but I’m 100% sure I was tripped up by my hubby! It was already dark when we went around the Nordic Ski Trail so the enchanted forest was all illuminated and looked absolutely beautiful. My favourite without any doubt had to be the illuminated lake, it looked beautiful with all the different colours and animals surrounding it. By the time we go our ski’s off and got our shoes back it was really dark (we had been in there just under an hour). We were all starting to get hungry and the children were tiring so we decided to head off home. Although it was just after 4:30pm there were still lots of people just arriving.
I have given Stockeld Park 4 stars out of 5. Although we had a fabulous time I think that the ticket prices could maybe do with be adjusted/tweaked slightly to cater for the families that its aimed to make the family tickets more appealing, i.e. buying the annual day pass for a family is £65 but individually for 2 adults and 2 children its only £68 and for 1 adult 3 children is only £66 so its not that much of a saving compared to other parks we have been to.
We had a great day and the Christmas Adventure is well worth a visit.
Rating: 4/5
Ticket prices vary depending on how many activities are required, visit www.stockeldpark.co.uk/prices.asp for latest ticket prices.
Stockeld Park’s Christmas Adventure runs until 6 January 2015. For more information or to book tickets visit www.stockeldpark.co.uk.
Stockeld Park, Harrogate Road, Wetherby, LS22 4AN | 01937 586101
