We were kindly invited to review Cattle Country Adventure Park last weekend and jumped at the opportunity to visit this popular family attraction located in Berkeley, between Bristol and Gloucester.
To keep Charlie our eldest son entertained during the car journey, I gave him a Cattle Country promotional leaflet. All the way there all we could hear from the back seat was – “there are animals and ice skating Daddy…. can we go on the tractor Mummy?…. I want to go on the big slides!” It is fair to say that by the time we arrived he was bubbling with excitement and ready for a fun family day out!
In complete contrast to our visit to the National Sealife Centre on Friday, we felt that we had Cattle Country to ourselves. Although the car park was fairly full, due to the size of the attraction we never had to queue for any of the activities and for several we enjoyed them alone, as a family of four.
Our review – Cattle Country Adventure Park
What we loved about the attraction… We were absolutely blown away with the wide variety of attractions on offer at Cattle Country and can definitely recommend it as offering good value for money. It has to be said, some of the attractions are a little ‘random’ i.e. unlike other local attractions there is not one ‘theme’ such as animals at Cotswolds Farm Park and science at @Bristol. However, although random it works and we had a thoroughly enjoyable day!
My youngest son Harry (aged 17 months) is a bundle of energy and is happiest when out of his pushchair and able to roam free! He loved exploring the ‘Kids Berkeley Castle’, playing with sand at the ‘Beach Barn’ and visiting the animals in the ‘Animal Experience Centre’.
Charlie my eldest (aged 4.5) is an energetic, adventurous boy and absolutely loved ice skating on the synthetic rink (his first time and it turns out he is not a natural!), the zip line, exploring the boating lake on a rowing boat with his Daddy and bouncing around on the jumping pillows and trampolines.
In addition to the activities above there is also a new water play area. It is not as big as Welly Boot Land at WWT Slimbridge however, it is still great fun for little ones.
The attraction has lots on offer for older children too including the UK’s largest climbing net, an activity net, a mini golf course, huge wavy slides and vertical drop slides located inside a playbarn.
As we visited during the last day of the Halloween themed week, we were fortunate to experience some spooky additional activities. The highlights were a scary tractor and trailer ride and a fairytale maze which led to Hansel and Gretel’s cottage. There was also a scarecrow trail, pumpkins to carve and marshmallows to toast over an open fire (much to Charlie’s absolute delight!)
I have to say we were really impressed with the staff at Cattle Country who were very friendly and quite chatty which is unusual with seasonal part-time staff.
Any weather attraction
For a rainy day option, Cattle Country Adventure Park is a great choice. It has two indoor play barns, one with a soft play area for young children and the other with big slides and an assault course for older children; the Beach Barn (which has three sides and therefore sheltered from any rain), the Animal Encounters Barn plus coffee shop and sheltered picnic area.
We definitely intend to return to Cattle Country during the summer for there is a splash pool for kids to cool off in, a new water play area plus lots of green space to spread out picnics blankets!
What would we change about Cattle Country?
As a parent I like to visit attractions that do not charge any extra for activities once you have paid your entrance fee. Unfortunately, at Cattle Country there are several activities that do require additional payment including a £1 charge for ride on mini tractors, dizzy ducks, mini digger and trailer ride. However, after speaking to one of the members of staff I established that the reason they do so is to cover the cost of charging up batteries or paying for fuel without increasing the general admission cost (which would be unfair as not all visitors wish to enjoy these particular activities).
You might be interested to know, that the rowing on the lake was a complimentary activity unlike at WWT Slimbridge where it costs extra. For large families with several children, the extra costs could add up, so if you do need to budget I would recommend steering clear of the rides listed above and instead make the most of the other ‘free’ fun activities which cater for children of all ages.
My only other slight criticism was general cleanliness in the playbarns. I have to admit, I am not a big fan of soft play areas as I find that they are normally quite grubby places. The two soft play areas at Cattle Country are no exception (possibly more so as we visited during the last day before the attraction closes for a few weeks before the Christmas opening hours).
So would we recommend Cattle Country?
Yes absolutely! If your children enjoy the jumping pillows, animals and sand pits at Cotswold Farm Park, the feeling of space and playgrounds of Cotswold Wildlife Park and exploring the castle at Warwick Castle then they will love a day out at Cattle Country Adventure Park for they will experience all of these activities plus many more!
The attraction runs special events throughout the year including its Christmas Santa’s Grotto. If the Halloween event is anything to go by it will be a throughly enjoyable family experience.
Our top tips for visiting Cattle Country
Take a change of clothes including a pair of socks! Thirty minutes after entering the attraction both of my boys had wet feet from going on the trampolines and wet clothes from splashing around in the new water play area…. Extra clothes would have been very useful!
Take a picnic or not! – There is a huge under cover picnic area near the Beach Barn plus lots of picnic tables. If you would prefer to eat out, the coffee shop sells regular kids meals plus kids packed lunch boxes. If you buy a hot drink, keep your cup for a second drink for a reduced price of £1.
Take note of the activity schedule – Inside your map there is a printed activity listing of the days events. Really useful (every attraction should do this!) It highlights which attractions are open/closed, the different opening times for each attraction and also lists any special events.
Need to know
Address – Cattle Country Adventure Park, Berkeley Heath Farm, Berkeley, Glos, GL13 9EW
Ticket prices – £8.60 per adult, £9.45 per child age 3 – 17, concessions £6.95, under 3 years free. Annual passes & group discounts available
Have you visited Cattle Country? Do you have anymore tips to add?
Disclaimer – We received complimentary family tickets to review Cattle Country Adventure Park. ALL opinions are however our own. Logo copyright Cattle Country. All other images copyright Travel Loving Family.
What a great day out for the four of you, there’s nothing better than being able to explore somewhere like this and feeling like you have the place to yourselves. It’s not surprising that the boys loved it, it’s great that they have so much space to go and explore and each activity had plenty of space in itself. My lot would’ve loved it when they were younger, the fact that it wasn’t all along the same theme would’ve been a big hit for them as they’re all so different. Thanks for linking up with me on Country Kids.
Author
Yes the variety of activities on offer make it a very enjoyable day out:)
TBH this is probably the first year in about a decade that we haven’t been so it is interesting to hear what changes have been made for this season. We like the themed things they put on – there was a great superhero one once with the Batmobile there. I also recommend you ensure that your child has long sleeves – especially if they want to go down the “death slide.” Also be aware that food isn’t always available – such as the ice cream stall hasn’t always opened on a hot day in say May because it isn’t the summer season.
Author
Thanks for stopping by and adding your tips Joy:) Yes long sleeves are pretty essential for the slides!
This place sounds incredible. I love the marshamallow toasting and I can’t get over how much there is to do. I agree that it’s annoying that they charge extra for things, but it’s great that they justified why. My family would probably spend all day here, i love all the little activities they had like the diggers, the boats etc. The play areas both indoors and out all look so good too. Thank you so much for linking to #whatevertheweather. x
Wow! So much on offer, no wonder your children enjoyed it so much! I love Harry’s outfit, he looks so cute in it! Great tips about bringing extra clothes, I’ve started leaving extra sets of clothes in the car whenever we go out, just in case they are required, definitely something to remember when a lot of kids activities include areas where you need to remove shoes/wellies to go on. Fantastic that it was free to go on the lake in the rowing boat, a great experience for Charlie, I think we need to get O out on a boat next year, he would love it!
Thanks so much for linking up to #Whatevertheweather :) x
I like the look of this place, the prices seem really reasonable for all that’s there as well. We’ll have to visit when the little one is older. xx
Author
Yes we felt the prices offered great value for money Lisa. We spent a good five hours there and still we did not experience all that the adventure park had to offer.
Wow, cattle country adventure park looks great fun! I like that it has so many different activities for ALL ages. Even my 12 year old would enjoy this! I personally love the look and sound of the beach barn, I like that it’s sheltered. Perfect for a rainy day. The scary tractor and trailer ride sounds awesome, hehe.
Yeh, I’m not a fan of indoor play areas either, due to all the germs but it never stops us either. I’m also glad to hear that the extra costs, go back into the park and paying to run/charge things.
Lovely photos and great post!
Author
Thanks for stopping by Sarah. Yes Cattle Country is great fun for all ages and perfect for all weathers:)
This looks like a wonderful place to take the children. Great review.
(Now I really want to go and toast marshmallows!)
Anna x
Author
Thanks for stopping by Anna. Yes the marshmallows were a big hit with my boys:)
Oh I love Cattle Country it is just down the road from where we live and we really enjoy taking Rose, there is so much to do. Great review x
Author
Thanks Amy! Glad to hear you are big fans of Cattle Country too:)
Not heard of this one before. It’s a touch too far for a day trip for us I think as there are places closer, but one to fit in on the way or way back from somewhere maybe.
Author
This would definitely be a great stop off Erica:) fabulous attraction
What a fabulous thorough review. I agree I don’t think places should charge extra for activities once you have paid to get in. Otherwise it looks awesome x
Author
Thanks for stopping by:) It is a fab attraction with activities to suit all ages
Sounds like a brilliant place there’s so much to do! I love the look of the ice rink and the beach area. It’s nice to have an option for inside activities when the weathers bad as well. Great review thank you x
Author
Yes kids would definitely not get bored at Cattle Country and as you said a great rainy day attraction too
Love the fact they list all the activities, it’s so easy to realise something was on an hour ago! Sounds like there’s loads to do there too.
Author
I know isn’t it annoying when you miss an activity?! I normally take a photo of the activity listing board and have it as a reference on my phone but the list they provided was really handy.
This looks like a lovely day out – would work well for us I think as we have kids of similar ages.