Conkers

Waste of time and money! My partner had very fond memories of this place as he visited many times as a child, so we decided to go with our niece, nephew and a few family members. After a 2 hour drive, when we arrived, the car park and front reception was well maintained, however that appeared to be the only thing that was looked after! Everything seemed run down and dirty, nothing was maintained. The first attraction with the water pumps weren't even working so that was a good start. Throughout the rest of the day, it became apparent that nothing actually worked.. The sensory walk was not even worth going to, 3 or 4 steel drums, some piping and some wind chimes that children can't even reach, and some of the instruments didn't work as they were missing parts. We then went to the viewing platform and all the trees around it were so overgrown that it might as well be knocked down and the story telling hut was laughable and nothing worth looking at. We then decided to try the indoor activities as the outdoor ones were not at all maintained and looked really unloved. It's basically a country park with abandoned attractions that no-one is looking after. To our suprise the whole education centre didn't work. Most of the "interactive" attractions were broken so it was not at all educational or interactive. Buttons didn't work, pictures were ripped off it was all just a complete waste of time and money. My niece was so disappointed as there was basically nothing to do there as nothing worked. We went into the "enchanted forest", again most of the interactive attractions were broken and didn't work, the lighting was quite poor so some areas were quite dark. As it was meant to be the "enchanted forest", you would expect to find fairies, however when we eventually found them, they were right at the back of this forest on the top floor and only 3 had lights on, the rest were unlit (so you couldn't even see them) and they were all broken with wings ripped off or fallen over. Luckily my niece didn't see that as I can imagine that would have really upset her. The whole area was extremely dusty and needed a good clean. We went to the cafe to have some food and that really is the only good thing I can say about this place. I think the food was reasonably priced and it was good quality food and the customer service was great but that's all I can say was good. After that, we went to the 4D cinema, firstly, the glasses are rubbish, mine were foggy so you couldn't see half out of one side, no matter how much I cleaned it, my partner had the same issues with his glasses. His seat was also broken as the water didn't squirt out like it should have. Also, the music is so loud you can't actually hear the talking in the film you are watching so it's a bit of a waste of time. We then went to the fairytale labyrinth and that really was a sorry sight. The pricess-type tower was pretty rubbish and the labyrinth surrounding it was overgrown so you couldn't see anything from the tower anyway, some areas of the maze itself were completely dead so you could see through it when you were walking through, which defeats the point of it. After that, we decided to leave without seeing any other attractions as we were so dissapointed and fed up with this run down place. It was not fun for children or adults, and it was a complete waste of time and money. We let the reception know how disappointed we were about everything and that everything was broken in the Education Centre, she seemed apparently shocked that it was broken and said she would let the manager know, I find it very hard to believe nobody has ever brought a single one of these issues to Reception's attention before. She didn't seem like she cared that much about our issues and didn't provide an apology or anything. We will never be visiting here again and we were extremely disappointed at the whole place.

Not conventional 'fun' but very engaging. Barefoot walk was great, the obstacle course was also enjoyed but probably for the older child to enjoy. The Hi-Ropes are additional to the entry fee.

Conkers is great for kids of all ages. One point, it is in Moira, Leicestershire not Derbyshire. Yes it has a DE postcode but Royal Mail do not use Derbyshire for that address.