Knockhatch Adventure Park – whatever the weather

Summer Holidays are here!

Long hot days. Hazy memories of picnics in the sun and staying out it just a t-shirt till it’s dark.

Well, at least that’s how I remember my childhood.

Our summer holiday so far has pretty much consisted of one thing.

RAIN.

But there you go. The great British weather. What to do with the kids?

Not to be disheartened by the weather we decided to check out Knockhatch Adventure Park near Hailsham. We hadn’t been in years and the website claims fun for all the family, what ever the weather. We certainly picked a day to test that!

Knockhatch Adventure Park is less than half an hour drive from Brighton and really easy to find. As well as the park itself there is also a Dry Ski Centre and a Knockhatch Campsite. We will be sure to return to check these out as we had a great day despite the weather and would happily make a weekend of it. We also spotted Hailsham Travelodge a short walk down the road for those that don’t do camping.

Although we picked possibly the wettest day in July to visit Knockhatch we had a great day. There are lots of undercover areas where you can spend time with the animals, feeding them and learning all about them. We found the staff at the park incredibly helpful and they all took time to talk to the kids. We watched the meerkats having their lunch and the keeper told us all about the new baby meerkat and her mother who was fed a special white mouse as she was still weaning the baby.

There are lots of large outdoor enclosure with all sorts of big animals including reindeer, emu and wallabies. We were all in waterproofs so the rain didn’t bother us at all. We even took a wet ride of the caterpillar which was a fast and soggy way to see some of the animals. We missed the tractor ride but I think it might have been a slightly drier ride!

During the brief dry parts of our day we all loved bouncing on the giant pillows and we managed to watch a great Bird of Prey demonstration and even have a row on the boating lake.

The kids were really interested in learning about the birds and spent time in the bird enclosure finding out more after the show. Knockhatch is ultimately a giant playground but there are also educational opportunities for little ones.

What I really liked about Knochatch was that it isn’t too big. There is enough to do for a day out without totally exhausting yourself. The park is small enough to let older kids have some freedom so you can sit and relax (even in the rain).

The wet bit. Yes, we got wet. But, to be quite honest, even if it isn’t raining you are quite likely to get a little wet. The Wave Runner is the big ride at Knockhatch and my 9-year-old thought it was fantastic. Personally it absolutely terrified me, so once was enough. There were quite small children using it which I didn’t feel too happy about as it was really high but they all seemed to be absolutely loving it.

For smaller ones, there is a little lagoon and a splash area. On a wet day there are plenty of puddles!

The rest of the park is made up of some great playground areas and a few other rides like the run away train simulator, the drop slide, chair swings and trampolines.

There are some optional extras like petrol go karts and a laser shoot out which both looked fun. We didn’t mind so much that these were a few extra pounds as they aren’t for everyone and the entry fee to the park is pretty reasonable. (Peak price £9.99 kids over 3 and £7.99 adults)

Our family are pretty bomb proof but by tea time even we were starting to feel the damp.

Froggies barn is a huge indoor soft play area and cafe complete with party rooms. We dried of for a couple of hours and had some pizzas for tea. The cafe was good value with decent pizza £4.50 and icecreams around £1. My only complaint about the indoor area was that it was a little hot, at least it dried our clothes out though.

Knockhatch was a great day out, despite the rain. I think it would be a perfect venue for a kids party and we will certainly be back. Hopefully with some sunshine!