The Wonders of BeWILDerwood Norfolk: A Parent’s Review!

Review by @cookiecrumblesuk

BeWILDerwood Norfolk is an adventure play like no other hidden in the Norfolk Woodlands. The magical world of tree houses, rope swings and slides is taken directly from the imaginative mind of Tom Blofeld creator of the BeWILDerwood books of which the park is based. We visited on a very wet half-term but like I said there is no such thing as bad weather just the wrong outfit. So, we got our wet weather gear on and wellingtons and headed to Hoveton near Wroxham and the Norfolk Broads. 

Having been to BeWILDerwood many times before our bunch of Boggle and Twiggle lovers knew exactly where they wanted to head straight to… The Slippery Slopes. It’s tempting on the beautiful boardwalk to not go straight on to the Boggle Boat Ride which takes you through the magical marches of BeWILDerwood.

Top tip is to ride the boat at lunchtime when queues are quieter, and you can punctuate your fast-paced day with a wonderful bit of storytelling.

The Slippery Slopes

The Slippery Slopes are located to the right of the park near the food tents and Toddler-Wood. There are three large slides, one which you can ride with friends and the other two that are single rider only. One of which is not for the faint-hearted as has a sheer drop. Obviously, that’s where my 11-year-old headed first.

One of the wonderful things about BeWILDerwood is it really is for all ages. All the attractions are differentiated for a range of ages, abilities, and stomachs. It’s one of the few family attractions that really is for the whole family entertaining toddlers to Teens, Grandpas to Grandmas. Although the site is, as you would imagine, quite uneven, but there are a range of accessible options for disabled guests including wider swings and lower-level play structures. Carers of disabled guests get free access to BeWILDerwood as do wheelchair guests.

The Big Hat

After a good 20 minutes slipping down the Slippery Slopes, we headed to the Big Hat. The Big Hat is an undercover area where you can take part in a range of different crafts which changes regularly. The crafts are all included in your ticket price and there is an emphasis on using recyclable items and reusing any waste. We were asked to make some Wiggle Wishing Sticks to be used later at the Wiggle Wishing Well. All the kids set to work on creating their wishing sticks some taking more time than others, our youngest simply enjoying getting messy with glue without reprimand. Hey, when someone else is clearing up it’s easy to let them experiment!

After creating our Wiggle Wishing Sticks we headed over to the Well where we got to speak to a very fantastical character and make our wishes. As usual, my daughter wished for a horse which unfortunately won’t be coming out of the well anytime soon, but they still had a lovely time interacting with the BeWILDerwood Character.

We were all starting to get a little bit peckish and although tempted by the BeWILDerwood Hot Dogs, Sausage Rolls, Famous Chilli Con Carne, and other hot treats. We had packed lunch so made our way to one of the little huts.

On busier days these are sometimes used for parties, and one is kept aside as a nursing nook for mothers with little ones. If they aren’t available there’s plenty of seating under the big canopy’s which will keep you dry and if it’s not rainy there’s lots of spots around BeWILDerwood where you can enjoy your packed lunch in the woodland surroundings.

BeWILDerwood has a yearly membership card. Where members can enjoy 15% off gifts yummy grub and super special events they also get a friend to play for free once a year.

Archer our youngest adventurer was soon finished with his lunch so we headed over to Toddler Wood a small-level adventure play for the teeniest of the family. He enjoyed the slides and running through the boardwalk to the tree houses but his favourite were the swings. There’s also a large sand pit in this area but as it was a very wet day we gave this one a miss.

Lunch over, it was time to head to the zip wires there are three sets. Two for toddlers to enjoy which you operate. Two medium-sized and two for the slightly taller guest which send you swooping into the forest. Because they’re all based in the same area it was really nice that we could enjoy playing with Archer on the baby swings while the big kids played on the longer zip wires.

And of course, myself and my sister had a go we had to test them out for safety purposes… It can get quite competitive in this area as next to the zip wires there’s a maze. We decided it was only fair to have a race to the finish giving the youngest of our Group A head start.

After lots of zipping around the forest, we made our way to the other side of BeWILDerwood Norfolk via some of the lower-level wooden structures which are dotted around the park. You are never far from a swing, stumped or raised platform to scramble across and every year they seem to add more. The older children headed to the den building while we grabbed a drink from the snack shack and sat down in the newly covered storytelling area.

The storytelling area is open all day and usually has two different stories which rotate a different points in the day. The stories are usually about 20 minutes in length and revolve around puppet characters of the BeWILDerwood books. There’s nearly always some audience participation, the kids sat there in awe,  especially when their favourite Mildred came on the stage. 

Next up we went to the newest area of the BeWILDerwood Norfolk site – the Towering Treetop Tangles! It’s a high-level wooden adventure play structure perfect for a game of tag or hide and seek or for the less competitive who are happy navigating around the rope bridges platforms and obstacles. It really is huge.

Opposite the towering treetop tangles is the sky maze a great place to get lost as you try to find your way to the top of the tower. Although we’ve been a number of times it still takes us a good half an hour to try and work out the quickest way to the top but again it’s not about the destination it’s the journey and there’s some fantastic tunnels, ladders and walkways to discover. 

Top Tip! Don’t forget to collect the clues along the way to find out the Parasquark code. Along with the clues on the sky maze every time you go to BeWILDerwood you will be given a trail map. The trail changes throughout the year and usually involves you collecting different answers/clues from BeWILDerwood characters as you explore the park. If you find them all when you leave BeWILDerwood you are awarded a special BeWILDerwood pin badge, there’s loads of unique designs to collect. It’s become quite the tradition in our household with my partner photographing his collection so that he doesn’t get any duplicates every time we visit.

After collecting some rather muddy children from the den building we headed to the Broken Bridge. Our youngest had never been big enough before but with a little help from my sister, they made the journey up to the top of the trees. We thought he might be quite fearful of the height but took it all in his stride and whizzed down the slide at the end. 

There’s so much to do at BeWILDerwood Norfolk it really is a full day’s worth of entertainment.

We didn’t leave until nearly 16:00 and we still hadn’t made it to Tiptoe Valley, or the Telescopic Tower. However, we were very very wet and decided that everyone needed a little treat in the Bizarre Bazaar, the gift shop at the beginning of BeWILDerwood.

What’s nice about this gift shop is that there’s no forced pathway through to exit as you get at some theme parks. There is a path which circles around so you don’t have to have that awkward conversation. On this occasion, some of our children had pocket money that they wanted to spend in the gift shop. My daughter is collecting the BeWILDerwood books. She already has two and was desperate to get the 3rd so we all had a look around.

There’s lots of different gifts and take-home treasures from pocket money prices to more expensive cuddly toys, T-shirts and trinkets. 

Pocket money spent it was time to leave but not before we spoke to one of that Twiggle team to show our answers for the trail and get our prized pin badge. We had a lovely day despite the weather and found lots of places we could take shelter, but to be honest most of the time the kids were too busy running, sliding, and jumping to worry about the weather at all.

I can highly recommend BeWILDerwood Norfolk! It’s not your typical theme park either, which I absolutely adore. There’s no place like it.

No plastic, no flashing lights or loud noises it’s just acres of woodland fun, where the kids and adults can run wild and be free!

Now you know all about BeWILDerwood Norfolk from our fab family, we bet you’re itching to go!

If you’re looking for more things to do, head to our recommendations page for all reviews on fab family attractions! From Fonmon Castle, Hobbledown and Stockeld Park to the National Space Centre in Leicester and the Knights Village at Warwick Castle!