Tapnell Farm Park, Isle of Wight

We loved visiting the Isle of Wight as a family. We found so much to do that our week was filled, and there's plenty left for our next visit! One of our favourite days was spent at Tapnell Farm Park. We looked at various options for a longer family friendly day out, and chose Tapnell Farm Park over the other contenders, Blackgang Chine and Robin Hill Country Park, because we felt that it offered better value for money. We paid £37.80 for a family ticket, saving ourselves a couple of pounds on the gate price by booking online the night before.

We had read that the park can be quite busy and so we arrived as it opened, but as we were able to time our visit before most schools had broken up for the summer we found it very quiet. We headed first for the pedal go karts, with an outdoor track for older children and adults. There are go karts in all shapes and sizes, ones that children can ride themselves and ones with seats for younger children to be pedalled around. It's a wide track with beautiful views and plenty of room for overtaking if things start to get competitive!

We visited on a lovely sunny day, but the indoor play barn is a great place to spend time if the weather isn't too good. There are a couple of long zip wires side by side so that you can race your friends, and a brilliant straw bale play zone for exploring with tunnels and dens.

There's also a climbing wall with several different routes that children can try, which was pitched perfectly and not too easy or too difficult.

There are plenty of animals at the farm to visit. Indoors there are pet animals like rabbits and guinea pigs, which are available to stroke at certain times of the day. Outside you can see traditional farm animals in the paddocks, like sheep, pigs and goats, as well as a Wallaby Walkabout area where you can get close to the wallabies. So close in fact that we were trapped inside for a while as a wallaby refused to move out of the way to the exit!

There are also plenty more play areas outside, including colourful tyres and two large bouncy pillows, one for younger and one for older children.

Children can race a cart down the Sledge Slides, practice football skills by aiming balls at targets, and play farm themed Mini Golf (this costs an additional £1 per ball from a vending machine).

We were lucky with the weather when we visited, but I think that even on a rainy or cold day there would still be plenty to do. It was also a lot of fun for adults too, it wasn't just about sitting around watching the children enjoy themselves, and we also had a go at many of the activities! We spent several hours here with a picnic lunch, and definitely feel that we got our money's worth. I'd really recommend it if you are looking for somewhere fun to visit with the family in the Isle of Wight!

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