So far on our road trip in North West UK we’ve been to Llandudno, Liverpool and Blackpool. This week I’ll tell you about the highlight of our holiday, a trip to Diggerland in Yorkshire! It’s billed as ‘The Ultimate Adventure Park Experience’ and they’re not wrong.
Where is Diggerland?
Diggerland has four locations across the UK, Durham, Devon, Kent and the one we visited in Yorkshire.
What is Diggerland?
It’s only the best theme park we’ve visited so far in the UK and we’ve been to a lot over the past couple of years. Imagine waving bye to your little 5 year old as he takes off down a super muddy track driving a JCB Robot (JCB Skid Steer Loader) on his OWN!
Well I did and he had such great fun that he immediately jumped back on the end of the small queue to do it again (and again). Kids get to drive and operate full sized construction vehicles, whilst there are restrictions on speed rotation etc it doesn’t take away from the thrill of operating a real digger.
I don’t know who had more fun the kids or my husband. It’s not just for boys either my 10 year old twin daughters absolutely loved it and have decided it should be top of the list of places to go in the UK with kids.
Are there any height restrictions?
Yes there are restrictions on some rides so your smallest child should be over 80cm in height so they can go on rides and drives with an adult. There are also a few £1 coin operated rides for younger children but they have to be over 2 years of age to ride them.
Diggerland is aimed at children aged between 4 - 14 years of age. We went with our 10 year old twins, our 9 year old, our 5 year old and our 2 1/2 year old and they all got to go on almost everything there. They didn’t feel like they missed out on anything. There’s a full list if height restrictions on their website diggerland.com
Would you need a full day at Diggerland?
You could do it in a half day if the park isn’t busy but you’d be rushing around, we took a full day to make the most of our visit. Our 5 little ones got to ride nearly all of the rides, the ones they liked they got to go on twice and the rides they loved 4 or 5 times!
Diggerland also has an indoor soft play centre, a Little Tikes wheelz play zone, café and shop. I was very impressed with the prices in the shop as they had Diggerland branded kids t-shirts from just £4.95 & lots of pocket money priced bits and pieces for kids such as pencils & rubbers, they even had Diggerland medals for 99p! Needless to say we left with a few bags of clothes, toys and souvenirs for our 5 that cost a lot less than I thought it would.
How much is admission to Diggerland?
On the day prices: £19.95/€22.37 per adult/child over 90cm tall, over 65’s £9.95/€11.16 however you can avail of discounted tickets by booking online in advance of your visit. Adults & children over 90cm tall are £16.99/€19.05 while over 65’s are £7.99/€8.96. Children under 90cm are admitted to the Diggerland free of charge, there’s also ample free car parking. Sign up to Diggerland’s newsletter as they occasionally send out special offers. For our visit we received a complimentary family of 4 pass so we paid for 3 of our children.
Stone Travel Tip:
If you’re planning on going with a couple of friends you should look into booking a birthday party to make it extra special and save a few pound too. Parties are priced at just £16.99/€19.05 per child with a minimum booking of 10 children.
For that price you receive, personalised party invitations, unlimited rides and drives, free entry for 4 adults per 10 children, party food for all children including free Diggerland lunch bags to take home, Diggerland balloons & a certificate for each child. Or you could book standard admission and avail of a group rate (minimum 10 people) by booking online at least 14 days in advance of your trip for £13.99/€16.69 per person.
Where to stay?
We visited Diggerland as part of our UK road trip so we had our Mammy van. We stayed in Holiday Inn Express Leeds East paying £46/€51.59 per room for 2 adults & 2 kids B&B. The hotel suited us just fine; it was clean with friendly staff and free parking. While the breakfast had limited options cereal, toast and tea did the job nicely.
We made the mistake of going to the Toby Carvery that’s right beside the hotel; it was way overpriced for what it was. We should have gone to Leeds city centre for dinner instead. Diggerland is located just 5 miles away from the hotel so it was less than a 10 minute drive. If you like Haribo there’s a Haribo factory nearby where they sell large bags at a discounted price.
How do I get to Diggerland?
Diggerland Durham: Newcastle airport would be the closest airport at 26 miles distance.
Diggerland Yorkshire: The closest airport is Leeds Bradford 24 miles away from Diggerland.
Diggerland Devon: is located just 14 miles from Exeter airport, Flybe regularly fly this route from Dublin airport.
Diggerland Kent: You could fly into any London airport and get the train to Kent or hire a car however Gatwick is the closest airport at a distance of 40 miles.
Have you been to Diggerland? What did you think?
Check back next time when we conclude our UK road trip with a visit to Leeds Royal Armouries and the medieval city of Chester!
*** Disclaimer:
As advised above
we received 4 complimentary tickets
to Diggerland. As usual all thoughts
are my own, I was not asked to write
this review. As ever neither free services
nor payment would ever sway my opinion.***
