Hobbledown – a 126 acre adventure farm and park has arrived in Hounslow and it is an incredible day out for Londoners between the ages of 2 and 13. Thinking of visiting during the holidays? Here are our top 5 reasons why you should.
Animals
Children love animals and Hobbledown has plenty to keep curious little ones entertained. Make friends with lemurs, giant rabbits or guinea pigs in the interactive walkthroughs and seek out the alpacas, reindeer, wallabies and camels on site. As well as seeing the animals in their roomy enclosures there is a Raptor Centre where you can get close and personal with various birds of prey including falcons and owls. There are handling sessions and zookeeper experience days throughout the year – so you can educate the kids on the planet’s (and London’s) other inhabitants. More info on the animals at Hobbledown Heath can be found here.
Themed Villages
Children can bounce, build, climb, dig and crawl within the cleverly themed villages that bring the Hobbledown story to life in a clever and educational way. The children may not realise it but as well as making memories they are learning about themselves and their capabilities as well as the world at large. There are four themed villages with beautifully designed playscapes including water play, tunnels, slides, sand and other activities such as zorbing.
Indoor Soft Play
Hobbledown has also created one of London’s largest indoor play arenas. It is huge and it is interactive and fun combining traditional soft play elements with colourful climbing nets, ropes, digital playful elements, slides, bridges and loads more. It is easy to spend a whole day inside the indoor play area (which is useful given the unpredictable weather in London.)
Outdoor Play
Playing outside is very important for kids – it helps develop coordination, self-esteem and independence as well as teaching them about limits, boundaries and challenges of play. At Hobbledown the outdoor playing opportunities are endless for both imaginative play and more challenging fun. There are bouncing pillows, lose part materials (from imagination station), areas where they have to move items around to pour water or dig in the sand, dark tunnels to burrough through and loads more. The kids can learn co-ordination, cooperation, balance, agility and dexterity. It is wonderful to watch. For those more advanced or adventurous there are zip wires and a whole net adventure park from Gripped that you can pay a little extra to join.
Great Food
Forget bland food – Hobbledown has you covered with an array of freshly made and locally sourced fare. The main restaurant (located inside the soft play barn) is the Hobnosh bar and you can expect childhood favourites like freshly made pizzas, jacket potatoes, pasta pots and lots more. They also have kid’s lunchboxes and if you want to save some pounds you can bring your own food and just order a coffee (which is also decent and they have oat milk which is always a bonus!).
There are other snack shaks throughout the site where you can grab drinks, ice creams and various on the go snacks.
Hobbledown heath is open daily and tickets start at £15 per person. More info and booking here.