On Friday we visited Waterperry gardens. We get out a lot, mostly through fear of being cooped up with the kids all day!
We’ve been here once before quite a few years ago so i couldn’t really remember anything (cant remember last week as it is) this is another dive to venue and its about 25 mins away. We arrived around middayish and had to park in the overflow car park (i like this as way more room) bonus is it was directly opposite the play park and fields. Perfect for our picnic (I swear i’m going to turn into a sandwich before the summer holidays are over)
Waterperry Gardens Play Park
The park itself is a wooden one and probably not very suitable for kids under 3 years. I had to climb up with Elliot to make sure he didn’t nosedive off the top. They did have this weird, funky, cool conveyor belt style contraption that was like a bridge and trampoline. I’ve never seen one like it before and the kids liked it.
The kids didn’t play on the park for long they wanted food! Is anyone else wondering how the schools manage to keep up with how much these kids eat???!! I am starting to wonder if I’ve ruined the park experience for the kids because i take them to so many ??
Food done we walked through to the gardens. We came to take part in the fairytale trail. Now you have to pay to enter the gardens and to take part in the trail. This being said we only paid just over £10. We only paid for one trail you don’t need to get any more the prize at the end is shareable.
Waterperry Gardens And Trail
The trail is flipping awesome well we loved it! You get given a compass and clues to work your way around. We followed the clues as best as we could because i’m crap with a compass. (You won’t be seeing me on the island with Bear Grylls any time soon) its an Alice in wonderland theme which was cool because we then had the film sorted for when we got home #bonus
The gardens are amazing. Seriously some of the prettiest gardens we’ve seen. We completed the trail pretty quick and had to collect the prize from the tea room. Very clever Waterperry, very clever. You can’t take the kids in there without them seeing the cakes so we had to buy some (totally hate cake 😉 ) cake was goooood! Not cheap mind and the place is swarming with wasps (little buzzy bastards) little hint sit under the tree we noticed the wasp traps as we left.
I won’t tell you what the reward for completing the trail is but i thought it was cool. Clark was gutted it wasn’t anything edible. You also get to keep the compass (I’ll stick to sat nav thanks) because we did the trail so quickly we went back into the gardens again to have a proper mooch. Rose garden was lovely Clark loved smelling them all.
Elliot hasn’t quiet learnt how to sniff a flower yet so instead was just blowing snot on them all. The Apple and pear orchards were impressive (tempted to pick and eat them but we were good and bought some from the farm shop instead) we came across the river walk. Do this it was lovely and has its own little trail with word plaques which make great photos!
Conclusion
The kids then got grumpy and shocker hungry! So we didn’t get to do much else. If you have less whiney kids there’s a small agricultural museum (sounds amazing right…) a gallery, gift shop and ofc a garden center. The day was lovely I wouldn’t say stress free but Elliot was on one ( aka being a turd) you could definitely spend a fair chunk of a day there if not the whole day. It’s worth the money and we would go back every now and again.
Waterperry Gardens Stats:
Distance from Bicester: 27mins
Sat nav: Waterperry, Oxford OX33 1LA Click to load sat nav
Accessibility: Driving required
Wheelchair friendly: yes
Equipment upkeep: 9/10
Cleanliness: 10/10
Facilities: 10/10 cafe, toilets, parking etc
Age range: All ages
Safety: 8/10
Fun factor: 8/10
AOB
Have a look for yourselves and let me know what you think. The place is like a haven for old people too so grab your grans and take them along and make sure you stay in that will 😉
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