Adventures in Wonderland at Raby Castle, Park & Gardens Review

DISCLOSURE – TICKETS TO SEE THE SHOW WERE GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER AND GUEST FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW

Reviewed by Jo Hardy

There is such a lot to see and do at Raby Castle and for a short time between 19th July and 17th Aug it’s all had an “Alice in Wonderland “ upgrade. I took the six year old in our family and she had the best time!

After a short stop at the cafe for refreshments we were eager to explore it all, first of all we popped into the roundhouse to get a map and the lovely ladies there explained where everything was. We decided to visit the Adventures in Wonderland immersive experience first which was in the riding school building. We went through the black curtains and were faced with a long tunnel of twinkling colourful lights leading us down to the mad hatters tea party at the end.  We took a seat at the table and waited for the Mad Hatter to appear. He was so good interacting with all the children and it wasn’t long before even the shyest child was joining in. He made a few jokes for the adults too! We had been given a scavenger hunt sheet and had a lot of fun finding the answers, on the way out we could choose an Alice in Wonderland sticker as a reward.

Next we visited the “Plotters Forest” play area nestled in a woodland area there’s lots of climbing and sliding to be done here and a great place for children to burn off some energy. Luckily for me there is also a walkway all the way round for those who don’t want to climb. This area has also had the Wonderland touch with characters and letters hidden in trees which we recorded on a sheet we had been given when we entered. There is a small cafe and some toilets in this area. We had a two hour timed entrance on our ticket for this but as the park wasn’t too busy we were told we could go in any time.

Afterwards we walked through the walled garden which had a lovely water feature leading to a pond, here we found the gates that accessed the deer park and led to the castle. We didn’t see any deer which could of been something to do with the wet and windy weather, but we walked on and into the castle,  guided tours are available but we chose to walk round on our own. The rooms were all interesting, we saw the plain staff quarters and the very elaborate main rooms of the castle. The larger rooms had stewards who were very good at highlighting things to interest the children. It is the first time we’ve taken our six year old to anything like this and I was very surprised at how interested she was in everything, even the rooms in the castle had a sprinkle of Alice in Wonderland in them. We had been given an adventure booklet filled with interesting things for us to look out for as we toured the castle and we both enjoyed ticking off the things we saw.

There was a bug hunt in the walled garden but we ran out of time and if the weather had been better we could have explored the grounds more but I still left feeling we’d had a full day.

This is the perfect place for all the family to visit, lots for all ages, my husband who cannot walk very far enjoyed sitting outside the cafe watching everyone go by, the sun came out and the view was lovely, the gardens and grounds are immaculate not a bit of rubbish or weed in sight.

There are various combinations of tickets all explained and available from Raby.co.uk/raby-castle/

We had the family explorer which is an access all areas type of ticket for 2 adults and 2 children priced at £75. The parking is free and there’s plenty of it.

Rating: 5/5

For more information or to book tickets, visit www.raby.co.uk