Diggerland Devon Review
Diggerland
Devon
Reviewed by Sarah Hicks
We just returned from a wonderful day out at Diggerland Devon. We visited on a weekend in early May 2015 as a family of 6, Mum, Dad and 4 young children, Lily 7, Sid 5 and Sonny and Stan both aged 3. I have to say, as I’m writing this the children are begging to go again (in a repetitive chanting fashion as only children can!). It was a very popular day out, they all loved it – even the pink princess – who to be honest I was a bit worried about, I thought she may be a bit overwhelmed by what can be deemed boys toys, but no she got really stuck in and thoroughly enjoyed all the rides and drives she did.
We travelled down to Cullumpton, Devon on the M5, left at junction 27 and easily found the site a very short distance away from the motorway. There was plenty of parking on arrival – we got to the site at about 10.30am – just after opening and after joining a very short queue at reception got into the main park. We were greeted by a very smiley friendly Shaz who checked the children’s heights (admission prices are based on heights rather than ages, this seems the fairest way to charge because there are height restrictions for each ride due to health and safety, so over 90cm’s tall and you can pretty much do everything – sometimes it’s necessary to be accompanied by an adult though).
As a larger family we can sometimes struggle on days out with the adult to child ratio – but at Diggerland this wasn’t a problem, because the older two were that bit taller – generally they were able to go on everything unaccompanied, leaving mum and dad to go on the rides with the younger two. It really is amazing and a bit scary the amount of rides the children are able to do on their own (in a good way!). I sat in the back whilst my 5 year old son drove a £52,000 JCB (very closely supervised by one of the great ride attendants I should add) around a track, I had a go too – this is one theme park where the adults can live out their inner childhood fantasies. I have to say, controlling these pieces of machinery is not as easy as the experts make it look. The children particularly liked the “table skittles” – played with – what else – a mini digger, the look of concentration on my daughters face as she tried repeatedly to get the last pin down was great – and if I’m honest mum and dad got a bit competitive too!
It was a bit of a wet and windy start on the day we visited, but soon turned into a lovely day, with the arrival of the sun through the clouds, and we were able to have our picnic that we’d brought with us on one of the many picnic benches on site. We ate in amongst the children’s play park area – which was quite spectacular in itself – it’s one of the first things you see on the approach to the site and it got a round of “wows” and “can we, can we go on that” as we walked in. There is also a small food outlet located just by reception, it was quite busy at lunch time when I had a look and sold just the sort of thing you’d want on a family day out – chips, sandwiches, the usual children’s fare and more when I had a quick glance at the menu.
After lunch we decided to go on a couple of the bigger rides – namely the Sky Scraper and then Spin Dizzy – both live up their names, all of us went on Sky Scraper – it seats 6 so perfect for all of us, and it’s gentle enough that you can enjoy the great views when you get to the top. My husband and the two younger children then wimped out of Spin Dizzy, leaving me and the 7 and 5 year old (they could have gone on, on their own, but I didn’t want to look scared!). We were given instructions on what to do if it all got too much by the ride operator – a thumbs down was the cue to avoid the spew, and following him doing his safety checks (which I will add were taken very seriously by all the operators) we were up in the air and spinning. I’m not sure going on this one after lunch was our best idea, but I’d given instructions to the daughter, who I thought would be the one to want to get off, that she couldn’t just put her thumbs down if she didn’t like it. I didn’t want her spoiling it for the other family on the ride, but as we were getting to the end of the series of spins, she started to breakdown and look a bit green around the gills so I did put my thumbs down to the operator as to be honest my stomach was doing somersaults by this time as well.
As I said, we all had a great day out, there is something to keep everyone happy, a gentle train ride to go karts and a digger operated merry-go-round, we made a full day of it, leaving just 10 minutes before closing time – and we could have stayed longer, there was that much to do. It didn’t seem busy on the day we visited, and we got on most rides straight away, with no queuing – which was fab. The staff were all really friendly, all making sure we’d enjoyed our time on “their” rides – nothing seemed too much trouble – we had longer turns on some rides as there was no one waiting and we even got the Sky Scraper operator to take our picture before we got off – which he did happily. Everyone had a smile and they all seemed to really want you to enjoy the whole experience, they were also really good with the children, one of mine in particular struggles to listen when he’s excited – so instructions sometimes just didn’t go in – but they were very understanding and helpful.
I’d definitely recommend visiting the website www.diggerland.com and measuring your children before going just to check exactly how much they will be able to do, I’d say it would be worth waiting until they are 90cm’s so that you can all get the most out of the visit.
I’d give Diggerland Devon a 5/5, it’s an excellent day out, the staff are friendly and helpful, it’s clean with good facilities and will be enjoyed by every member of the family, it’s also good value for money if you make a full day of it.
Rating: 5/5 
Tickets cost £19.95 for over 90cms (free if under 90cms), book online in advance for discounts.
For more information or to book tickets online visit www.diggerland.com.
Diggerland Devon, Verbeer Manor, Willand, Cullompton, Devon, EX15 2PE | 0871 22 77 007
