Peppa Pig World can't be beaten for younger kids and their families (From Basingstoke Gazette)

Peppa Pig World can't be beaten for younger kids and their families

2:30pm Wednesday 4th April 2012 in Leisure By Joanne Mace

PARENTS of young children in the area have been flocking to Peppa Pig World since it opened last summer.

The attraction, part of Paulton’s Park near Romsey on the edge of the New Forest National Park - still owned and run by the same family that first opened its gates to the public in 1983 - has seen thousands of extra visitors through the gates, among them my husband and I, plus our delighted toddler daughter.

There are so few things available to entertain younger children, especially those aged three and below, and that’s where Peppa Pig World – where children under one metre tall are admitted free of charge, the park's policy - has come into its own.

Most of its seven main rides, Miss Rabbit’s Helicopter Flight, Peppa’s Big Balloon Ride, Grandpa Pig’s Boat Trip, Daddy Pig’s Car Ride, Grandpa Pig’s Little Train, George’s Dinosaur Adventure and Windy Castle, can be enjoyed by very young kids and babies, allowing them to really participate in a first trip to a theme park.

A few of them offer the opportunity to have a family photograph taken, something we made sure to take home when Granny was in town.

The provision for families doesn’t end there, as, in addition to the afore-mentioned main rides, there is a brilliant indoor soft play area. It’s a decent size, and split into sections so smaller ones don’t get crushed in the mania.

In one bit, there’s a really fun system where foam balls are sucked up tubes by an air current and then deposited into the space again. Our daughter’s so obsessed with it, she could happily spend hours in there. In another, there are musical soft play instruments and in other, a super slide. In the main play bit, there’s a clever clear panel and a bit where you can make your way to the top and sit in a Peppa cockpit.

Young kids will also adore the excellent play park facility outside, which has a fantastic ‘muddy puddles’ area with water jets gated off from the swings slides and so on, perfect for warmer days.

All the necessary family requirements – healthy drinks and snacks, high chairs, loo access, changing areas - are obviously present and correct, and everything has clearly been carefully thought out and imaginatively designed.

You can meet Peppa and George at certain times of the day, and see them in the cute house sets, exactly as they look in the cartoon series, dotted around the rides.

There’s even a fountain with Peppa and George in it, plus Mrs Duck and her family in a pond. Change collected from the pond amounting to over £1400 was recently donated to Tommy’s.

The only drawback I can think of is, having listened to the theme tune as you wander around all day, you’ll be singing it all the way home!