Conkers Review
Conkers
Derbyshire
Reviewed by Laura Bown
A full day of adventures in the heart of the National Forest……
…..Well, that’s the tag line on the website, and you know what, it actually is. I had heard good things about Conkers, but we had never visited as it was a bit of a drive from us. Conkers is 10 minutes from junction 11 on the M42 in Moira Nr Ashby-de-la-Zouch. There is ample free car parking, with lots of shaded parking spots under the cover of trees to keep the cars nice and cool. This was especially welcome as we had chosen to visit on one of the hottest days of the year!
Conker’s is basically all about the outdoors, there are two indoor centre’s as well but the main attractions are outside. Without a doubt the best bit of our day was the Barefoot Walk. My two year old and 5 year old both absolutely adored it. Basically there is a small hut where you remove your shoes, then you walk round a 450m course of different sensations. Water troughs, mud, clay, stones, and more mud. It doesn’t sound like much but the kids absolutely adored it. And I must admit my feet were very soft after splashing in the clay pit for a while. Once at the end we went back to the hut where there are facilities to wash and dry your feet. If you are coming to Conkers do put your children in clothes you do not mind getting wet, dirt and muddy. And bring a spare set! I must say the hut for the barefoot walk did get very busy, and wasn’t very clean, it is very small and struggled to accommodate everyone.
As I mentioned there are some indoor elements to Conkers, there is the discovery centre, with over 100 hundred interactive exhibits, an indoor play area, café and shop. Honestly, we did not spend much time in here mainly because my youngest was petrified as it was quite dark. It did seem that there were lots of interesting exhibits, focused on wildlife, energy and conservation. The other indoor element is the Waterside centre which you can get to buy taking the Conkerchoo II, a lovely little train which leaves from its lakeside station. I was really impressed that there was space for pushchairs on the train and the staff were very helpful. In fact the entire site is pushchair / wheelchair friendly. At the waterside centre you arrive at the station which is next to a huge outdoor play area. It has a great range of play equipment and kept both of my kids amused for ages, I actually had to drag them off so we saw something else.
The waterside centre itself contains another entrance, small shop, a nice café, some craft activities and the Billy Bonkers Play centre. This is an even larger indoor play area, and is subject to a small additional charge. The café looked really nice, it overlooks the lake and serves what looked to be really nice food. We didn’t eat here as my daughter had wanted a picnic, but when looking at the menu I did think it looked excellent value for money with some great family friendly choices such as pizzas that you could share. We did do the craft activity, which was being run by one of the park rangers, there was no charge but they did ask for donations for craft materials. My daughter loved making her paper plate fish!
The other highlight of the day for us was the Pirate Pat magic show. Taking place in the covered amphitheatre near the Waterside centre, it was a great children’s magic show. The amphitheatre is a brilliant outdoor theatre, under the cover of a huge canvas / tent. The show is part of some of the additional entertainment put on during the summer holidays and all included in the entrance price.
A new section of Conkers is the High and low ropes adventure course. It looked amazing, but a bit too much for my two little ones. Slightly older children would absolutely love it especially the 70 foot zip wire. There is an additional charge and can be from as little as £4 extra, depending on which parts of the course you wish to do. You must book a time, and this can be booked online before you visit. I would advise you did this as when we were there it was getting very busy.
There were lots of other things that we enjoyed including the maze, the water play, the woodland walks, and especially eating our picnic in a den in the bushcraft area. We actually did not get round the entire site. Priced at £7.95 – £9.75 (under 3’s free) or £32.95 for a standard family ticket I would say it is excellent value. Even better value is the annual pass which for a family of 4 is £62.95.
We will be returning to Conkers soon under orders of our 5 year old who said ‘the place is amazing’.
Rating: 5/5 
For more information or to buy tickets visit www.visitconkers.com.
Conkers, Rawdon Road, Moira, Nr Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Derbyshire, DE12 6GA | 01283 216 633
