Playdays Basingstoke Review

Playdays Basingstoke
Hampshire

www.playdays-basingstoke.co.uk

Reviewed by Katie Allen

I have a child under three so are keen to try out new activities to relieve the boredom of the local petting farm and constant Disney movies.

I must admit I’ve not been to such a big soft play centre, as my daughter is so little we tend to stick to the ones for smaller children at garden centres and leisure centres etc.

Playdays is a large soft play based in an industrial estate in Basingstoke. We went on a slightly miserable Thursday during the school Easter holidays and arrived only 15 minutes after it opened but already the car park was almost full. My friend arrived 20 minutes later and had to park on the road.

The centre itself is all in one room and the play area looks like a large pirate ship with a separate smaller section for the little ones (under a certain height). There are plenty of tables and settees for the adults to sit at and what I particularly liked is that you can see pretty much all the way into the play equipment without getting yourself lodged in a foam roller or similar.

There’s quite a large refreshment area with drinks, snacks and hot food also available from the kitchen. We enjoyed some juices and delicious coffee which were at very competitive prices (£9 for 2 coffees and 5 fruit shoots).

Due to it being the school holidays there were a lot of older children running around and soon after my daughter and her friend began playing some of these started to be a bit boisterous in the toddler area. I prepared myself to be one of those annoying “Mum police” and ask them to leave but I was pleasantly surprised to see that the staff were on it and had it under control.

There is all the usual equipment “inside” the pirate ship – slides (including a 4 lane astro slide), bridges, steps, 4 ball cannon play park and the little ones had their own tube slide and rope bridge etc.

The website states “all sessions are for unlimited play time even at peak times” however we were given coloured wrist bands which would limit our time to 2.5 hours. I can understand why they do this as it did get very busy and is only fair however it might be a good idea to have this written on the website in case someone argues about it.

The centre and toilets are clean and the young staff are friendly, knowledgeable and enthusiastic.

Two hours was just about long enough for my daughter and her friend (and me) and I think the £4.20 per toddler (under 3) charge is good value especially when adults are free. I’d definitely come back but probably during the school term when it’s not so busy.

Rating: 4.5/5

Playdays, 2 Stewart Road, KingsLand Business Park, Basingstoke, RG24 8NF | 01256 346173