SUNDOWN ADVENTURELAND

If you haven't heard of Sundown Advventureland before then you're missing out, it's out favourite place to go with the boys so it helps that it's literally fifteen-twenty minutes away in the Lincolnshire countryside and we're so excited to hear they're expanding and looking to build lodges on their site. In our five years of visiting there have been lots of changes at Sundown, all for the better, with two new rides being added in that time and a giant new play area named Fort Apache. It's a brilliant day out for the whole family and there is something for everyone to do, no matter the weather. With no hidden additional costs once you're inside the park, it can be a purse friendly day out, especially if you bring along a picnic which we love to do when the weather is as warm as it has been lately. If you haven't checked out our previous review, definitely do so here.

So if you're wondering what Sundown has to offer, let me enlighten you, it's basically everything. Of course as it states, it has rides, nine in total but eight are open for the majority of the time with the Night before Christmas ride just opening for the festive period. The two newer rides, the Ostrich Safari and the Monkey Driving school do have height restrictions but again these are only 110cm so we've never had issues once our two reached around the age of 2/3. Definitely check their website though for all the little details like that, also to see if there are any special events on as for example the last Fathers Day, Dads got free entry which is amazing.

Lollipoppet Castle is a huge pastel castle that each different room smells of a different sweet scent, from bubblegum to liquorice and mint too. It's fully immersive and the boys love wandering through all the different rooms and finding all the buttons to press and levers to pull, some buttons even set off little shows behind the glass which we find ourselves watching over and over again. In the middle of the castle is a bubble machine that sporadically sets off which is lots of fun, along with a toothbrush puppet show to remind them exactly what to do after eating all the sweets.

The Angry Birds zone was an area I didn't really cover before, mainly as the boys always felt a little too young to fully discover it but now they're 3 and 5 they adore it. The whole park is on squishy bouncy tarmac which I'm a big fan of to reduce bumps and bangs, next to this area is the sandy cove play park that's a huge sandpit with play equipment in the middle. There's two rides, the Old Yokie which are teacups and the Flying Piggies, which again the boys adore. Behind this part of Sundown is the brand new Ostrich Safari ride, newly opened last year, it does have a height restriction so bare that in mind before queuing

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Storybook Village is exactly that, a little village dedicated to all of your favourite fairytale characters, there is Jack and the Beanstalk, Goldilocks, The 3 Little Pigs and so many more. Inside each house there is a book with a button and once you press it, it'll tell the story of the house you're in. It's amazing and personally my favourite part of Sundown, I could spend a long time in this part but in truth the boys like to dip from house to house before we're even half way through any story.

Fort Apache is also a newer addition, not quite as new as some of the rides but has definitely opened since we've been visiting. It's a huge wooden playground, again with the squishy tarmac, there is a LOT for the little ones and even bigger ones to do here, we like to let our two run around the perimeter and head up the ropes and down the slides as it really tires them out (mum trick ha) These slides are metal however so in the warmer weather we have found they do get very hot, so might be worth heading to a different play park if you think the slides are too tempting.

Probably the boys favourite new addition is the Monkey Driving school, it's fantastic and not overcrowded at all which makes a huge change for this style of ride. The kids go and watch a demo video first in a little room and then are let loose on the track. Noah was an absolute pro and instantly wanted another go, what I will say however is I think having two staff on the track would have worked better as naturally kids get stuck and bump into each other and often needed a little help restarting, but had to wait sometimes for a little time while the staff member helped others. The queue was longest for this ride so really meant it took time away from their turn. Other than that he loved it and would have spent hours on there.

*We were gifted tickets to visit Sundown Adventureland in order to explore their new additions.