During the Easter holidays, we visited the National Forest Adventure Farm and had a really, really good day there. We found that there was plenty to do there to keep all of us amused, and it was definitely somewhere that we wanted to visit again. You can imagine how pleased we were when we were invited back to explore the Dinosaurs Awaken Maize Maze.

The maze, which is there until September 4th, is the latest attraction at the National Forest Adventure Farm, and is perfect for any kids who love dinosaurs. Ours, even though they are only young, absolutely love the Jurassic Park films, and have been excited to go ever since we broke up from school. Knowing how great the farm and the giant soft play centre was from before, we invited my brother along with us, who is a big kid at heart!

Unfortunately, we managed to pick what seems to have been the wettest day in a long time to go for our visit, and that put a bit of a dampener on the day (literally!). We managed to get absolutely soaked, and didn’t stay as long and do as much as we did when we went before. What it did mean that the outside areas were a lot quieter – we were the only nutters outside!

When we got there, we went straight for a coffee and a play in the gigantic play centre, which is included in the entry fee. What I love about it is that it is absolutely spotless, and is possibly the only soft play centre I don’t mind going to! The kids definitely kept my brother on his toes in there, making him go on the big slides with them. I’m not sure who had more fun – him or the kids!

There’s a great little section for the under 5’s as well, so it meant Benjamin could play to his heart’s content without me worrying he would fall down from a height or get trampled on by bigger kids.

The dinosaur training, which is what the kids were most looking forward to, is held twice a day, at 12pm and 4pm. It was meant to be held in the big play field, but because it was absolutely chucking it down, it moved over to the courtyard, where we could sit undercover and not get too wet. When the dinosaurs turned up, the boys were in absolute awe. It was like a real life, (but slightly less scarier!) Jurassic Park, where they could actually go and touch the dinosaurs!

We also went panning for fossils, which is an additional £2 per person. Any gems or fossils you find in your bag of sand are yours to take home. They also loved trying to uncover fossils and dinosaur bones in the big sand tray.

By this point, it had started raining quite heavily, so we popped over to the animal barn with the £1 feed tubs that we had picked up at the farm entrance. The boys really enjoyed being able to stroke the guinea pigs and watch the baby pigs being fed.

We then decided to brave the rain, as there was no sign of it stopping and head over to the main attraction – the maize maze. There are two maze’s – the 10 acre one, which we were advised takes about an hour and half, and the dino-babies mini maze, which should have been about twenty minutes. Because of the rain, we opted for the mini one, which only took us about ten minutes, but I think we zoomed round because it was absolutely pouring. The boys loved looking for the dinosaur stamps to stamp their sheets, even if they did fall apart because they got so wet!At the end, they were given a lollipop each which of course they were over the moon at!

We really wanted to check out the Jurassic Canyon before we went, so trudged over. It’s a huge sandpit, where you can dig for dinosaur bones, move sand about using the buckets and pulleys, and basically burn off a little bit of energy. I think on a nice, dry day they could have spent hours in there, but it was just too wet for more than a quick play. Because of the weather, we also missed out going on the giant bouncy pillow, outdoor play area and bouncy castle, which is a real shame because they loved it there when we went before! They did have a quick go in the JCB area though.

By this point, we were beginning to feel a little bit soggy and chilly, so we popped back to the soft play centre for a drink and a quick play, before heading home. Despite the weather, we really enjoyed our day at the National Forest Adventure Farm. It’s definitely something we would go back to time and time again – we are already looking at the Halloween and Christmas events!

*We received complimentary tickets to the farm for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are our own.