BeWILDerwood Offers Great Fun for a Family Day Out
North Norfolk is the perfect destination for a family holiday, with plenty of outdoor activities on offer including swimming at local beaches, cycling, horse riding and spotting the local wildlife. If the weather takes a turn for the worse however, there are plenty of child-friendly activities for a fun day out.
The Jobling family from Colchester, Essex recently went on a holiday to North Norfolk, and found there was plenty to keep the children amused. For Adam, Shell and children Carly, 4 and Ethan, 18 months, it was their first visit to North Norfolk. They weren’t disappointed.
“We decided we would do a UK holiday this year as our children are still young and detest car journeys – we chose Norfolk as it’s not too far. We spent some time on the seafront there, at Joyland, as the rides were suitable for our children. We also played games in the indoor amusement area as it rained a lot! We visited Cromer which we really enjoyed. It’s a very well presented and tasteful seaside resort – clean, tidy and friendly, with lots of great coffee shops. Cromer is definitely our favourite beach in North Norfolk – the waves and pebble beach are quite different from the beaches in Essex. We also went on day trips to Pettitt’s Animal Adventure Park and BeWILDerwood, which were really fun.”
BeWILDerwood
BeWILDerwood is an outdoor forest adventure park featuring treehouses, zip wires, boat trips, marsh walks and numerous fantasy characters. The park has even been used as the setting for a book by local children’s author Tom Blofeld, titled ‘A Boggle at BeWILDerwood’. With many aspects or the park based on imagination, parents are encouraged to help children create their own stories and entertainment. Parents are encouraged to play alongside their children, which makes for a fabulous and brilliantly exciting day out for the whole family!
“We visited BeWILDerwood the first week of September. It was a rainy day but the trees gave us a surprising amount of shelter, so don’t be put off if the weather isn’t great – just make sure to wear your wellies.
“We’d heard about BeWILDerwood from brochures, plus some of our friends had recommended it as a fun day out. They were right! We had a great time and will definitely be going back again.”
Suitable for All Ages
BeWILDerwood has play areas suitable for all ages, so the whole family will find something they love.
“Our favourite areas were Slippery Slope, with huge tree slides, and Toddlewood on the Hill, which is ideal for under 5s with mini slides, treehouses and wobbly wire. We spent quite a while at The Big Hat section which had a large picnic area and is where the craft activities and shows are held on event days. Both Carly and Ethan liked these areas as there was something for them both to do: Carly’s favourite things were the big slides and zip wire, while Ethan enjoyed the toddler zip wire. The children absolutely loved it but they were exhausted for a couple of days afterwards!”
Special Events and Shows
BeWILDerwood often have shows and seasonal events, such as the upcoming The Glorious Glowing Lantern Parade. From late October until the beginning of November, special edition BeWILDerbats storytelling, pumpkin carving and lantern making is held, before a lantern parade starts when the sun goes down.
“There were some shows on when we went but our two are currently a bit young and don’t sit still for 5 minutes – they would rather be running around outside. We did have a quick look at what was going on and it looked like a lot of fun with plenty of audience participation going on. They have storytelling, puppet shows and the week before Halloween they have a lantern parade.”
The adventure park also organise birthday parties and cater for school groups. Age appropriate activities are available for nursery and school groups, to make the day out educational as well as fun.
Helpful Staff and Adult Friendly
Adam and his family had a friendly and enjoyable experience at BeWILDerwood.
“The staff were all friendly with the little interaction we had. There were plenty of them scattered around the wood if you needed help or to ask them anything. We stayed all day so we definitely got our money’s worth. Some places, you are done in two to three hours. The main thing that we were happy about was that it is geared up for parents and children doing everything together – lots of places you go to these days you pay an adult admission price and there is nothing for you to do!”
“We’d definitely recommend it to others for a great day out. Hopefully next time we visit it will be a warmer and drier day!”
Vlogging Family Day Outs
Adam and Shell document their family life and weekend day trips on their YouTube channel.
“We were first introduced to vlogging at the beginning of April 2015 with a couple of families in America who our daughter had been watching for several weeks. We thought, ‘What a great idea, and what an amazing way to capture our family life – especially our children growing up.’ We have already captured some awesome and very funny clips, including our day at BeWILDerwood. Take a look at it here.
“Generally our vlogs are 10-12 minutes each day and cover a little bit of each of us. Sometimes they are just fun, other days we do challenges and sometimes we share things that we feel are important to talk about.
“I don’t have any official training, but I spent 6 weeks watching YouTube tutorials and attended a YouTube creator day. I’ve basically learnt video editing from trial and error and I use a Sony Handycam HDR-CX240 camera.”
North Norfolk has plenty of exciting day trips for families so whatever the weather, you’ll find something to keep them entertained.
Price and Parking
There is plenty of free parking and entrance prices range from £13.50 for child or £15.50 for adults.
Location
BeWILDerwood is a 53 minute drive from Blakeney Cottage Company HQ. The nearest train station is ‘Hoveton & Wroxham’ which is 1.9 miles from BeWILDerwood, so a 30-40 minute walk or a 20 minute taxi ride.
