Manydown Family Fun Basingstoke Review
Manydown Family Fun
Basingstoke, Hampshire
Reviewed by Angela Paull
We went to visit Manydown Family Fun, on the outskirts of Basingstoke, on Sunday. Manydown is situated a couple of miles from the main Leisure Centre area of Basingstoke so is easily accessible from all directions.
The attraction is broadly farm based and is absolutely perfect for an active day out with lots of fun things to do for kids.
On arrival we followed the clear signposts towards the car park (on grass) which is a very small walk from the marquee entrance. On the way we passed a Farm Shop, Gift shop and very impressive looking cafe in a green double decker bus.
The entrance marquee was well staffed and it took no time at all to enter Manydown. As we were visiting during their lambing event there was a “trail” to be followed so we picked up a sheet and one of the mini pens from a vast box on the counter (very well thought out as I rarely remember to put a pen in my bag!) and off we set.
Manydown Family Fun is essentially a big open space with lots of simple, fun activities. If you have a child who likes bouncing, crawling and climbing then this is the place for you! Within the main area there is a large sandpit, a play area with climbing frames and a slide, a hill with built in tunnels and slides, an old tractor for clambering over, several swings, tyre stack, hay bales stack and lots of mini tractor ride-ons. My 4 year old immediately made a beeline for the bouncy pillow (awesome fun!) which also has near to it a bouncy castle and large inflatable slide. Continuing the bouncy theme he then headed for the trampolines. These are great as they are set into the ground and age segregated, making them really safe for all ages.
For those visitors with very young children there is also a separate area for the under 3’s that is filled with lots of age appropriate outdoor toys. There is also a mini golf course and you can pick up clubs from the entrance marquee when leaving a small deposit.
Once we’d worn ourselves out bouncing we took a tractor trip. This took us for a short ride amongst the fields where the driver pointed out what crops had been planted and what they would be used for – great for introducing children to the concepts of where their food comes from. This took about half an hour (a little longer than normal, I suspect, as the route was very muddy and slippery due to the recent rains).
After this we were ready for lunch. We had taken a packed lunch and there were lots of picnic benches available for eating on. There is also a snack bar and cafe on site which sold a good selection of hot and cold lunches (as well as the cafe bus outside) so there are plenty of options for eats and drinks. Needless to say we treated ourselves to ice creams whilst we were there!
After lunch we decided to watch the sheep race – which was happening as part of the lambing event. Each sheep had a colour and children were invited to pick a coloured cloth from a bucket to cheer on the sheep of their colour. Each sheep was named too – with some witty monikers such as Lady Ba-ba and Curly Wurly! The race was over in no time but our 4 year old loved seeing them jumping over little obstacles and racing to the finish line (so much so that we had to watch them race again an hour later!).
We then took a stroll through the farmyard and woodland walks. This is a short trail past some farm animals (pigs, goats, ducks etc.) and through the woods – where there was an opportunity to try den building. This walk takes you past some large barns where you also have the chance to handle some animals (guinea pigs and rabbits) and see cows, llamas and lots of ewes with their lambs. There were also lots of ewes and lambs in the fields – each was numbered so we had lots of fun matching the numbered lambs to their Mums!
We had to visit all of these areas to complete the “trail” we’d picked up at the entrance – pinned up in various places were pictures of sheep and collies – all individually named – and we had to write the list of names on the trail sheet. This was handed in at the end of the day for the opportunity to win a season pass – so well worth doing!
After a return to all the inflatables it was time to go home – but we couldn’t resist a quick cuppa on the bus cafe before we went. Our 4 year old is a huge bus fan so he thought this was fantastic! The tea and shortbread biscuits were pretty good too! As we visited on a Sunday the farm shop closed at 3pm and the gift shop was closed all day but they both looked as though they stocked a really interesting variety of goodies.
All in all this is a really fun day out for kids. Everything is quite simple with no fancy bells and whistles but judging by all the happy faces around this is just what kids want – the chance to run, jump, enjoy the fresh air and get back to nature.
We were very lucky that the weather was kind to us on our visit as this really is a dry day attraction. The only item we couldn’t use was one of the slides – which had a massive puddle of water on it. On the plus side this puddle had tons of worms in it – which lots of children found most fascinating. The only slight negative was the toilets, which are Portaloos and could probably benefit from a little TLC.
All in all though a really, really good day out which we thoroughly enjoyed – I daresay we’ll return in the summer when their fiendish Maize Maze will be ready to bamboozle and frustrate!
Rating: 4.5/5
Tickets from £7.75 to £9.45, family tickets from £25.50 to £51.70.
For more information or to book tickets online visit www.manydownfamilyfun.co.uk.
Manydown Family Fun, Scrapps Hill Farm, Worting Road, Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG23 8PU | 01256 220 398
