Am I tight-fisted, or have prices shot up?

[Shufflebumnessie]

I was looking at booking a day out/activity to do with DS and DD during the holidays as we've just had yet another Covid related disappointment. I am shocked at the prices!
A 90 minute swim session at a pool with slides etc would be £45 for 2 adults and 2 children.
Two games of bowling (approximately 40 minutes in total according to the website) is £52.
A day out at a local Country Park (which is lovely but nothing for the adults apart from walking around) is £70. It was £45 before lockdown.
A 90 minute session at a local farm for £42. Previously this was the cost for the full day.
Am I just being a miser, or have prices increased substantially?

@Shufflebumnessie have you done dinton pastures and California country park? Perhaps these are the free parks you mentioned earlier, though it sounded like you now live far away from them. But if you’d have a day out at coral reef and Wellington then these two are also close by surely? Both free except parking (about £6-7 a day) and California now has the paddling pool which is about £2.50 per child but needs booking. Dinton offers boat hire too but that quickly becomes expensive.

People saying country parks are free and are shocked at the thought of paying for them - I think it depends. Wellington has a lot more to offer than the free ones - dinosaur models, multiple cool parks, soft play, a train, loads of animals for petting/feeding, possibly jumping pillows? - not just a single playground and woods or a lake, like I’d expect at the free ones. I’ve never seen all the above at somewhere you can go for free. Not in the south east anyway!

I've always found bowling stupidly expensive for what it is, I think it's one of those things that's regularly discounted so don't be fooled to pay full prices.

My mum would never take me to Welly Park when I was a kid because it was too expensive. I think it's always been at the top end of pricing, but it is a lovely day out.

I checked my local fun pool and prices were £22 for 2 adult and 2 children over 4, which I thought wasn't too bad - until I noticed that sessions only lasted 55 minutes!!! It's the sort of pool you could easily spend a few hours at! Most of the slots were empty so no idea why they didnt extend it to at least 1.50 or something...

Ice rink has gone from £6 with your own skates to £10 a session!

And yes theatre tickets are insane. Although someone mentioned London - I wonder if they might actually be cheaper because there's more competition rather than the one local theatre in smaller places. Plus they often do draws etc for cheap tickets.

Council tax 5% for the fourth year in a row, g&e have shot up, food is definitely more expensive....!

[quote modgepodge]@Shufflebumnessie have you done dinton pastures and California country park? Perhaps these are the free parks you mentioned earlier, though it sounded like you now live far away from them. But if you’d have a day out at coral reef and Wellington then these two are also close by surely? Both free except parking (about £6-7 a day) and California now has the paddling pool which is about £2.50 per child but needs booking. Dinton offers boat hire too but that quickly becomes expensive.

People saying country parks are free and are shocked at the thought of paying for them - I think it depends. Wellington has a lot more to offer than the free ones - dinosaur models, multiple cool parks, soft play, a train, loads of animals for petting/feeding, possibly jumping pillows? - not just a single playground and woods or a lake, like I’d expect at the free ones. I’ve never seen all the above at somewhere you can go for free. Not in the south east anyway![/quote]
@modgepodge thanks for the suggestions. Yes, we've been to both California and Dinton many times and are about 30 mins from us. They weren't the ones I was talking thought as we've moved.
I was looking at the other, more expensive options as DS & DD have suffered yet another Covid related disappointment this weekend and I wanted to organise something nice. I was looking at things that are more of a treat and that we hardly do but I hadn't factored in the ridiculous prices.
Wellington is a great day out but prices have increased substantially and I'm not sure it's worth it anymore.
I think we'll probably head to California Country Park or The Look Out.