{"id":15063,"date":"2023-08-21T11:42:41","date_gmt":"2023-08-21T10:42:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dayoutwiththekids.co.uk/hub\/?p=15063"},"modified":"2024-06-11T09:37:15","modified_gmt":"2024-06-11T08:37:15","slug":"wicksteed-park-review-a-wonderful-day-out-for-families","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dayoutwiththekids.co.uk/hub\/things-to-do\/wicksteed-park-review-a-wonderful-day-out-for-families","title":{"rendered":"Wicksteed Park Review: A Wonderful Day Out For Families"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wpb-content-wrapper\">[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We took a trip to Wicksteed Park recently and had so much fun! Read on to discover what we thought of our visit&#8230;<\/span>[\/vc_column_text]\n            <div class=\"dowtk-blog-image\">\n                \n                \n                    <picture class=\"attraction-cta__image\">\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dayoutwiththekids.co.uk/hub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/IMG_3278-1260x708.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"lazyload\" \/> \n                    <\/picture>\n                            <\/div>\n\n            [vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]<h2 class=\"dowtk-heading\">Where is Wicksteed Park?<\/h2>\n            <div class=\"attraction-cta\">\n                \n                \n                    <picture class=\"attraction-cta__image\">\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dayoutwiththekids.co.uk/hub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/IMG_3298-1260x708.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"lazyload\" \/> \n                    <\/picture>\n                \n                 \n            \n                                    <div class=\"attraction-cta__meta-wrapper\">\n                         \n                            <div class=\"attraction-cta__description\">\n                                <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wicksteed park is situated in Kettering, Northamptonshire and I feel so lucky to live so close to somewhere like this. It\u2019s owned by the Wicksteed charitable trust and is a grade 2 English heritage listed park and garden.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The original trust was set up in 1916 and the park was founded in 1921 as part of the legacy of Charles Wicksteed.<\/span>                            <\/div>\n                                                 \n                            <div class=\"attraction-cta__meta-box\">\n                                <div class=\"attraction-cta__meta-title\">\n                                    <span><?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?>\n<svg width=\"384px\" height=\"511px\" viewBox=\"0 0 384 511\" version=\"1.1\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" xmlns:xlink=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\">\n    <title>Shape<\/title>\n    <g id=\"Page-1\" stroke=\"none\" stroke-width=\"1\" fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\">\n        <g id=\"location-dot-solid\" fill=\"#555555\" fill-rule=\"nonzero\">\n            <path d=\"M168.3,499.2 C116.1,435 0,279.4 0,192 C0,85.96 85.96,0 192,0 C298,0 384,85.96 384,192 C384,279.4 267,435 215.7,499.2 C203.4,514.5 180.6,514.5 168.3,499.2 L168.3,499.2 Z M192,256 C227.3,256 256,227.3 256,192 C256,156.7 227.3,128 192,128 C156.7,128 128,156.7 128,192 C128,227.3 156.7,256 192,256 Z\" id=\"Shape\"><\/path>\n        <\/g>\n    <\/g>\n<\/svg> Location<\/span>                                   \n                                                                            <a href=\"https:\/\/goo.gl\/maps\/ey6jdtgtGthM1koD8\" target=\"__blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">\n                                            <span>Get directions<\/span><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 448 512\"><!--! Font Awesome Pro 6.1.1 by @fontawesome - https:\/\/fontawesome.com License - https:\/\/fontawesome.com\/license (Commercial License) Copyright 2022 Fonticons, Inc. --><path d=\"M256 64C256 46.33 270.3 32 288 32H415.1C415.1 32 415.1 32 415.1 32C420.3 32 424.5 32.86 428.2 34.43C431.1 35.98 435.5 38.27 438.6 41.3C438.6 41.35 438.6 41.4 438.7 41.44C444.9 47.66 447.1 55.78 448 63.9C448 63.94 448 63.97 448 64V192C448 209.7 433.7 224 416 224C398.3 224 384 209.7 384 192V141.3L214.6 310.6C202.1 323.1 181.9 323.1 169.4 310.6C156.9 298.1 156.9 277.9 169.4 265.4L338.7 96H288C270.3 96 256 81.67 256 64V64zM0 128C0 92.65 28.65 64 64 64H160C177.7 64 192 78.33 192 96C192 113.7 177.7 128 160 128H64V416H352V320C352 302.3 366.3 288 384 288C401.7 288 416 302.3 416 320V416C416 451.3 387.3 480 352 480H64C28.65 480 0 451.3 0 416V128z\"\/><\/svg>                                        <\/a>\n                                                                    <\/div>\n                                                                    <div class=\"attraction-cta__map-wrapper attraction-cta__meta\">\n                                        <div class=\"attraction-cta__map-address\">\n                                            <p>Wicksteed Park<br \/>\nBarton Rd, Kettering NN15 6NJ<\/p>\n                                        <\/div>\n                                        <div class=\"attraction-cta__map\">\n                                            <iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/embed?pb=!1m14!1m8!1m3!1d9740.371004024051!2d-0.7084626!3d52.3868689!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!1m2!1s0x48779f6b33d8f683%3A0x6a850b24d9210f72!2sWicksteed%20Park!5e0!3m2!1sen!2suk!4v1692612668080!5m2!1sen!2suk\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" style=\"border:0;\" allowfullscreen=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\"><\/iframe>                                        <\/div>\n                                    <\/div>\n                                 \n                            <\/div>\n                                                                                                                    <\/div>\n                \n                                    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dayoutwiththekids.co.uk\/attractions\/wicksteed-park-763ef1e6\" class=\"btn cta-component\" data-section-id=\"Blog Content\" data-component=\"Button - Purple Rounded\" target=\"_blank\">\n                        <span>Find out more<\/span>\n                    <\/a>\n                \n            <\/div>\n\n            [vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]<h2 class=\"dowtk-heading\">Things To Do At Wicksteed Park<\/h2>\n            <div class=\"dowtk-blog-image\">\n                \n                \n                    <picture class=\"attraction-cta__image\">\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dayoutwiththekids.co.uk/hub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/IMG_3259-1260x708.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"lazyload\" \/> \n                    <\/picture>\n                            <\/div>\n\n            [vc_column_text]<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The first thing you notice about this park is just how much there is to do here! There is absolutely something to do for everyone. There are around 30 rides and activities along with 147 acres of beautiful parkland. The fact it is all dog friendly is a huge plus for us as well!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The actual park is free to enter and you can either buy individual ride tickets for \u00a33 each if you only want to go in a few rides, or you can buy a wristband for \u00a322 per person. This enables you to go on all rides, however many times you like for the whole day! Parking is also charged at an additional cost depending on how long you are there for. They also have a camping area on-site that you can book so you can spend even longer here.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Free Nature Walks and Play Areas<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you don\u2019t want to go on any rides, as I mentioned above &#8211; you can enter the park for free. There is still so much to do here! There are so many walks you can go on around the area, loads of different play areas &amp; a huge sand pit. You can also pay an additional charge to enter their soft play area (Wicky\u2019s Play Factory) which features slides, tunnels and ball pits.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Food and Drink<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There\u2019s a ton of food and drink available throughout the whole park so you\u2019ll never be short of somewhere to stop. I checked the menus and they do seem to cater for some food allergies and diets too. This is really important for me as I\u2019m a vegetarian. These include cafes, restaurants, ice cream kiosks, treats, hot dogs &amp; burgers.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Gift Shop<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is also just one main gift shop in the park meaning you don\u2019t have to get off every ride and have your kids ask for a toy every time (parents, you know what I mean!)<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space]\n            <div class=\"dowtk-blog-image\">\n                \n                \n                    <picture class=\"attraction-cta__image\">\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dayoutwiththekids.co.uk/hub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/IMG_3287-1260x708.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"lazyload\" \/> \n                    <\/picture>\n                            <\/div>\n\n            [vc_column_text]\n<h3>Rides<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are four main ride areas including the thrill zone, the heritage zone, the splash zone, and the adventure zone.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Thrill Zone<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The thrill zone features dodgems, honey pot bears (suitable for all ages), ladybird coaster, paratrooper, dinosaur valley rollercoaster &amp; rocky river falls log flume. There are also some games kiosks here where you can try to win some prizes! We loved riding on the log flume which provided some much needed relief from the hot sun and the dinosaur rollercoaster.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Heritage Zone<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The heritage zone includes the carousel (also suitable for all ages), sway rider &amp; the railway which takes you around the whole park and the huge lake. This is also the area where the lakeside walks and the traditional playground are situated plus the new big ferris wheel. The railway is also suitable for all ages and If you are travelling with a dog, they even let your dog ride on the train too! The railway was our favourite part about this area.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Splash Zone<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The splash zone includes a classic car ride (again suitable for all ages), the lake boats where you can take a boat trip or pedalo trip over the lake and spot all the wildlife here. You can take your dog on here too! The water chute (which is one of the oldest surviving water based rides in the world and one of the original rides that was here on opening day in 1926). The water chute was also our favourite!<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Adventure Zone<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Then finally you have the adventure zone. This consists of an Astro slide, clown coaster, crazy golf, cups and saucers, lighthouse mini drop ride and Meerkat Manor (where you can see the meerkats). You can also pay extra for a Meerkat experience which starts from \u00a350 for 2 people and you can get even closer to them to feed them!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Tree Top Walk and Farmyard<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There\u2019s also mini jets, rockin\u2019 tugs, a mini roundabout and an amazing tree top walk. This is a 90 metre course full of rope bridges, cargo nets and tree trunks. Wicky\u2019s Farmyard is here too where you can meet pigs, rabbits, bunnies, Guinea pigs, ducks, chickens, rats, ferrets <\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]<h2 class=\"dowtk-heading\">Final Thoughts Wicksteed Park<\/h2>\n            <div class=\"dowtk-blog-image\">\n                \n                \n                    <picture class=\"attraction-cta__image\">\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dayoutwiththekids.co.uk/hub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/IMG_3285-1260x708.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"lazyload\" \/> \n                    <\/picture>\n                            <\/div>\n\n            [vc_column_text]<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I love the history behind this park, and it\u2019s amazing seeing some of the original rides here! It\u2019s great that they also have such classic rides like the carousel which is always a big hit in our house! We even managed to make it through the day with only two tantrums from my toddler (because he didn\u2019t want to queue!). The best thing is because it\u2019s still a relatively \u2018smaller\u2019 theme park, there are barely any queues. Most rides were just walk-on with a little queue for the bigger rides like the big wheel and the log flume.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They also have lots of seasonal events throughout the year so you will always find other things to do as well.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s worth keeping in mind that the rides only operate from April &#8211; October. So it is very seasonal. However the park grounds remain open all year round which makes it the perfect place to visit out of season for a playground trip, or a dog walk in the beautiful scenery.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]\n            <div class=\"dowtk-blog-image\">\n                \n                \n                    <picture class=\"attraction-cta__image\">\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dayoutwiththekids.co.uk/hub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/IMG_3299-1260x708.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"lazyload\" \/> \n                    <\/picture>\n                            <\/div>\n\n            [vc_column_text]\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">We hope you have enjoyed this review and can visit Black Country Museum soon! Discover what other families thought of family days out across the UK in our\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dayoutwiththekids.co.uk\/hub\/things-to-do\/reviews-and-recommendations\">Reviews and Recommendations<\/a>\u00a0section. Then, check out our\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dayoutwiththekids.co.uk\/hub\/family-influencer-network\">Family Influencer Network<\/a>\u00a0too!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Follow Tamsyn and her family for lots of family day out inspiration and lifestyle tips over on Instagram\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/tamsynx\">@Tamsynx<\/a>.<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]We took a trip to Wicksteed Park recently and had so much fun! Read on to discover what we thought of our visit&#8230;[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The first thing you notice about this park is just how much there is to do here! There is absolutely something to do for everyone. There are around 30 rides and activities along&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":15066,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[427,142],"tags":[],"thb-sponsors":[],"class_list":["post-15063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reviews-and-recommendations","category-things-to-do"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dayoutwiththekids.co.uk/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dayoutwiththekids.co.uk/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dayoutwiththekids.co.uk/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dayoutwiththekids.co.uk/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dayoutwiththekids.co.uk/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15063"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dayoutwiththekids.co.uk/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15063\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dayoutwiththekids.co.uk/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dayoutwiththekids.co.uk/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dayoutwiththekids.co.uk/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dayoutwiththekids.co.uk/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15063"},{"taxonomy":"thb-sponsors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dayoutwiththekids.co.uk/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/thb-sponsors?post=15063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}