Diggerland Castleford, Yorkshire Review
Reviewed by Louise Totton
Having two very pink and girly girls (aged 5 and 2½), I wasn’t sure how much we would enjoy a JCB / construction themed park, but needing an active day out towards the end of half term, we thought we’d give it a go.
Diggerland Castleford is one of four Diggerland sites in the UK, the other three parks being located in Durham, Kent and Devon.
For an October half term day, we were incredibly fortunate to arrive at Diggerland in lovely warm sunshine. The park is located a couple of miles off the M62, and is very well signposted both from the motorway and then right through to the park entrance. We arrived at 10.20 (the park opened at 10am), and there was plenty of space left in the car park. Parking is free, which is a lovely bonus, given the number of attractions that charge extra for car parking. We had brought a picnic, which we decided to leave in the car given we had been able to park so close to the entrance; we thought it would save us carrying a heavy bag around the park.
We joined a small queue to gain entry to the park. The staff were really friendly and efficient, chatting to the children as they organised the tickets. After we’d paid, we went through into the park itself, and I must say that my first impression was that it was much smaller than I had expected, and I wondered how it would be possible to spend the full day there.
The girls wanted to go on the very first ride that they saw (Dig-a-round), which was a small roundabout / swing type ride powered by a JCB in the middle. Both girls absolutely loved it, and it really set the tone for the day. I had been worried that there might not be very much for my 2½ year old to go on, but in fact there was loads that she could do. They went on the Mini-Landrovers next, small cars that the children can drive around the track themselves. The younger one was slightly too small to drive one, but the cars had passenger seats so her big sister took the wheel and drove them both around the course. They had a top time, being little grownups and driving round the corners and over the bridge. The staff on the ride were fantastic, explaining the controls to all of the children as they got into their car and keeping their eyes peeled for strugglers / cars that had veered off the road.
Next, we went on the Dumper Trucks. These were proper, life sized, trucks and part of the reason my husband had been so excited about the Diggerland trip. Both of the girls were too small to take the wheel of this one, by my husband and I each took the wheel of one, and with a child on the passenger seat. All I can say is it was great fun; the course and the steering were really challenging, and the kids both really enjoyed their rides.
The staff on all of the rides were really helpful, some of the attractions that the kids could do by themselves were made even more successful by the attendants always keeping their eyes open for the kids and always being on hand to help / offer advice. One thing that I would say is that they are REALLY strict on height restrictions. This, in my view, is no bad thing. Yes, it did mean a number of disappointments for some of the kids, but a lot of the equipment is heavy and tricky to operate, and they really did treat guest safety with great importance.
Our five year old was super excited to drive the Skidsters around the Robot Driving track. She was able to take the controls by herself and drive the (full size) truck around a muddy and slippery track. She had the time of her life, and her younger sister enjoyed being a passenger when her dad took the controls of his own truck.
Before we had our lunch, both kids wanted to go on the Spin-Dizzy ride. It’s probably the most ‘white knuckle’ off all of the rides there, and only our older child was tall enough to go on it. Both my husband and I decided against a go, but apparently it was the “coolest ride… ever”. Praise indeed from a pink, princess obsessed little girl.
As the park is relatively small, it only took a couple of minutes to nip out to the carpark to collect the picnic, and we were able to find a picnic bench in a grassy area quite easily. There is food onsite, and the prices were quite reasonable for the type of venue, but being a family with both food intolerances and fussy eaters, we tend to bring our own picnics to places like this.
We spend the beginning of our afternoon session going between the smaller rides, so the girls tried their hands at skittles, hook a duck, digging for treasure and the three-ton dirt diggers. We also had a lovely little trip on the Diggerland Train and had a turn on the Sky Shuttle. Despite it being half term, we never queued for more than 15 minutes, and usually closer to 5-10 minutes.
Towards the end of the day, we headed for the JCB drive – this was the part that we’d been most looking forward to, and equally the part that I thought there was no way we’d be able to do; a 5-year old being able to drive an 8.5 tonne truck around a muddy course. We had to queue longer for this one, which was to be expected. We probably waited about 30 minutes for our turn, but wow, was it worth the wait! She had an amazing time, and the young man who was helping her was so patient and lovely explaining what the controls did, and which parts of the track to avoid. The day was worth it for this experience alone.
As it was getting on for 4pm, and starting to get a little chilly, we decided it was probably time to wind the day up. We went on a few of the favourite rides again on our way back to the car, and also called in for half an hour at the soft play so that we could have a cup of coffee and recharge before the journey home.
We had an amazing day, the kids loved every minute. We found the staff to be wonderful, the whole park was clean and well cared for, the rides were all engaging and the kids had an amazing time. It was one of the few family attractions that really did offer as much for the adults as for the kids.
We would absolutely recommend Diggerland for a fun and different type of day out with the family. One point I would make though is that if your child is under 80cm, there really isn’t anything for them to do, and there is very little for a child under 90cm. Once over 90cm, they can do the vast majority of the attractions. Yes, it is quite small, but there are a lot of very engaging and fun activities packed into a small space. We didn’t spend half of our visit queuing as we would have done at larger attractions, and we could have easily spent longer in the park had it not been getting colder or we’d brought gloves with us.
A fantastic day out. We will be looking forward to a return visit.
Rating: 5/5
Tickets cost £19.95 (90cms or taller and under age 65), £9.95 (age 65 and over). Save money by booking online.
For more information or to book tickets visit www.diggerland.com/yorkshire.
Diggerland Yorkshire. Willowbridge Lane, Castleford, West Yorkshire, WF10 5NW | 01634 711 711