Last Saturday, under the orders of my penguin obsessed daughter and theme park loving husband, we hopped in the car and drove right into the heart of West Wales in pursuit of Folly Farm Adventure Park and Zoo.
This was my first visit to Wales and en route I was struck by the rolling hills and vast countryside, the drive is very scenic compared to the dull motorways we are used to and the kid’s had great fun pointing at the passing cows and sheep in surrounding fields.
The park was easy enough to get to, we came from England and there were clear instructions on the website on how to reach the park from various parts of the country, so we printed these out and didn’t have any problems.
We actually heard about Folly Farm from a friend who had visited and highly recommended it, a bit of additional research on our part revealed that it has been voted one of the top adventure parks in Wales for two years running. When my daughter read that the park had a brand new penguin enclosure, I knew we’d never hear the end of it if we didn’t go!
Anyway, onto the actual Folly Farm experience! The second we got through the park’s turnstiles my daughter was leaping towards one of the numerous themed adventure playgrounds she had read about. I have to say I was impressed by the scale of the park, the adventure play areas were huge and boasted everything from pirate ships to construction diggers.
My daughter and hubby made a beeline for the Follystone racetrack, this is a fast paced go-kart track that both children and adults can take part in – the pair decided to race each other!
Next we headed onto the animal kingdom otherwise known as the zoo where we were able to greet animals such as meerkats, giraffes and the famous penguins! The park are running a zoo keeper experience this year: led by the parks zoo keepers children have the chance to feed the penguins in their natural environment and learn every penguin fact in the book, my daughter even got a t-shirt to take home with her!
We didn’t bring food with us, but I needn’t have worried as there were over seven food outlets selling reasonably priced, wholesome food. My husband opted for a locally sourced Welsh beef burger while my daughter and I shared a home-made lasagne. If you wanted to bring food with you there are plenty of picnic benches surrounding the park.
After lunch we headed on over to the vintage fun-fair, we were later told that this is the largest indoor fun-fair in Europe! This really was a blast from the past, there was a gorgeous carousel ride, not to mention the waltzers and a giant big wheel. They even had a sweet shop selling everything from candyfloss to lemon sherbets, mmm.
We ended the day at the parks hen and hatchery exhibit where we were able to see every single stage of a baby chick being born, from incubation to birth. There was just enough time left to pay the penguins a farewell visit before we waved goodbye to Wales and went on our way home.
I would highly recommend a day out at Folly Farm to parents looking for something to do with their children, the entry price is a total steal at under a tenner each and from thrills to relaxation, there really is something for everyone to enjoy. We’ll certainly be back next year.