The Hop Farm

Pleasantly surprised. My DD (9) and DS (6) loved it so much they were sprinting from ride to ride. As previous reviewer said, there were very few queues even on May Bank Holiday Monday.

Big hits were the bouncy pillows, bungee trampolines, carousel and Magic factory (funhouse type thing full of optical illusions).

We didn't bother with any of the shows but I think if my DC had been younger we would have.

9 years is probably the upper age limit.

Food is pretty dire. We took a picnic but went to the Tea Rooms mid afternoon hoping for homemade cakes etc but ended up with Twixes.

Went here with ds (9) and dd (5) last weekend when visiting best friend in Kent. She has dd (9) and a ds (6). Did so with teeth so heavily gritted I had jaw ache - haven't been very keen <understates> on these kinds of places in the past.

Not often moved to do reviews, but this was cracking. Genuinely relaxing, firstly because it was astonishingly uncrowded - no queues for anything at all lasted longer than three minutes. I imagine it gets more chocker during the holidays, but I talked to a couple of other parents and they said that during term time it was always this stress-free.

Secondly because more or less everything except the food is included in the price. Usually come away from these places feeling humbug-ish, because once extras are factored in the price of the day seems to double, so I'm £100 down and bitter, bitter, bitter. But this was £32-ish for a family ticket (2 adults, 3 kids) and the only thing that cost extra were a couple of 'shooting range' type stalls at about £3 a pop which none of the kids were particularly interested in. Things like the bungee trampolines - which everywhere else seem to have a) a £5-10 price tag and b) massive queues attached - were free.

It doesn't set itself up to compete with mega theme-parks like Legoland/Chessington, which is blimmin' refreshing. It's much smaller for a start (although we happily spent 4 hours here and could definitely have stayed for another 2 or 3 if we'd been able to) and less slick. The general atmosphere of the place is uncommercial - the petting zoo, pony grooming and shire-horse cart rides are given as much prominence as the rides, which I'd say are generally aimed at the 3-7 age group.

Which is not to say that 9 yr old ds and my friend's dd of same age didn't have a fab time - they were practically ecstatic. They enjoyed the younger kids stuff (eg Driving School a la Legoland, a small ferris wheel, a weird but hugely enjoyable mechanical horse ride thingy, and - big hit - those enormous bouncy pillow things) and there was plenty of stuff specifically for their age group. Standouts were a very cool digital climbing wall game which looked like something from a CBBC show, an electronic basketball game which involves jumping around chasing a shadow-ball to move it (hard to explain), and a video shooting range which was suitable from age 9 to adult, all in the Alpine area. Also, we felt completely happy letting them go off on their own with orders to stay where they were till we came to get them - would never do that anywhere else.

They were also very into the Pirates of the Caribbean section, which is new, and had a really lovely gold-panning bit where you have to sift the wet sand to find semi-precious stones - DS completely freaked out to get a real lump of 'fools gold', which now has pride of place on his treasures shelf. It also featured a freakily accurate (and consequently, unnervingly attractive) Captain Jack Sparrer look-a-like who swaggered around chatting to the kids (and the mums <blush>. Not sure if he's there all the time or because this is a new area. There was also a Harry Potter-ish optical illusion/magic bit which went down really well with all ages - lovely, because it was all old-fashioned mirrors type stuff, where it looks like you're levitating etc. They give you instructions on how to take your own levitation photos on your mobile - none of that £8 for a bad polaroid stuff.

DD (5), and a bit nervous of rides, had two of those confidence-turning-point moments when she went on the bungee-trampoline, and also when she plucked up the nerve to groom what is without question the most gorgeous Shetland pony I've ever seen, one of those caramel-coloured ones with blonde hair. She also loved stroking the rabbits and *adored* the new-born piglets (gawd, we all did!)

There were several bits that we didn't get to, a whole waxworks museum and an area for younger kids which I think is like a soft-play centre. The food was reasonably priced and - while not exactly gourmet - perfectly decent in its class, and the bar was pub prices.

So basically, if you were a 2 adult, 2-3 kid family, for £32 you get a whole day's worth of stuff. If you eat there that would go up another £25-odd, but there's a picnic area so that's by no means compulsory. We came away feeling that our (urban-ish) kids had had a brill day doing stuff which was proper fun but didn't revolve entirely around high-adrenalin or video games for a change, and their verdict was "Could we live here?"

My son (aged 3) and daughter (aged 7) really enjoyed the Hop farm there was lots of little bits and bobs to do several playarea (two indoors and one out) a giant bouncing pillow, crazy golf, painting (small charge) a few animals and we loved the magic factory! There a outdoot adventure thing but it was new when we went and wasn't well organised. Also since we visted they have now open a pirate sandpit which my friend said was fun. Forgot to mention the little rides/wax museum and shows its a really nice day out!

This place is appalling value for money. It's just a glorified playground with a serious need for a face-lift. There is a very poor choice of food available and what there is, is very expensive and of poor quality. There's nowhere to shelter if it's a wet day. I have also been to their Santa's Magical Kingdom at Christmas and this was a complete rip-off. The queues to see Santa were excessive and the gifts received were poor quality and not suitable for the age of the child (my 7yr old daughter received a cuddly toy suitable for a baby and my 1yr old a toy with an age range of 3+!). I have complained to the managment team only to be told that my version of events couldn't possibly be true. I would never visit this place again and would advise you to save your money. They are after one thing and that is maximising their profits at your expense.