Had a really lovely day at Knockhatch with our 6 year old autistic son. There is something for everyone and such good value for money. I agree with some previous reviews however, the main indoor food place/ childrens play area was chaotic. Food was lovely but took quite a long time to queue. The staff were working flat out and doing a brill job , but just too much for them. The tables were full of rubbish from previous customers which attracted wasps.
The splash paddling pool (Pirates Cove ) was neat and refreshing on a warm day. Such a lovely place we will definately be coming back next year. Thank you.

visited knockhatch for the first time today,with a 13 and 7 year old.both had a great day and there was plenty to keep both entertained all day.The waterslide was amazing.will be visiting again.great day had by all.

GOOD - The animal element of the park was excellent, with good informative 'encounters' where you are able to get up close and personal with a variety of animals, such as hedgehogs, and snakes etc, along with the main show which included a tawny owl, pole cats, meerkats and such like. It was also enjoyable to walk around and feed the general "farm" animals too. The "free" attractions (Water Ride, Runaway train, Jumping Pillows, Drop Slide etc) were all very good and just enough to keep the kids happy.

BAD - Queues. Queue to get in the place (unless you have cash? or Tesco vouchers (skip the 40 minute queue and go straight up to the front left ticket office (something they only seem to be able to communitcate once you're nearly there anyway!). Once you're in, the queue's aren't too bad UNLESS YOU WANT FOOD! First encounter in Froggies was queuing from 12.10 until 12.35 to just get a cup of tea and three bottles of water. Madness - there was one person taking the money and making the hot drinks and one person cooking / making sandwiches etc and then taking them out to the tables. Second encouter was queuing from 13.55 to 14.15 to get two pizzas, which arrived at our table at 14.55 after we'd chased up the "chef" on one of her delivery rounds! That said, the prices were very reasonable and the food was OK.

UGLY - Aside from the absolute joke time of the food queue (which meant we missed the Bird of Prey display), the actual floor of Froggies (the main "restaurant") was totally covered in dropped / spilt food, as were the tables etc, which were littered with trays and discarded food. It looked like it hadn't been cleaned for a while.

A little more organisation could have this place running like clockwork. They need staff on the car parks to direct people where to park rather than people dumping their cars where they see fit.

They need a couple more entrance desks to alleviate the initial 40 minute peak time entrance debacle

A seperate till in Froggies for a "drinks only lane" (seriously...if you order a latte, you'll hold up the whole queue) and someone else in Froggies to take the food out to people, rather than the "chef".

I wouldn't rush back but I would go back.

Visited Knockhatch for the first time yesterday. When we arrived I wasn't sure were to park - most places like this have someone in the carpark to keep things moving etc, but this was a bit of a free for all. By the end of the day there were cars up the lane on any verge they could find. We then joined the queue to go in, which took half an hour! Not a great start, children started to get fed up, Tip is to be able to pay by cash or tesco vouchers as that queue was much smaller-though you couldn't book the go karts at that till. Next problem- if you want to do the paid activities you need to pay as you go in, which I assume is why it was all taking so long as you get a time slot.
Once in we spent time looking at the animals. Not a huge selection, but the children were happy enough - lots of chickens, rabbits, goats -which loved being fed,piglets, and a few others.
Some of the free activities only run at certain times for an hour. My advice is that when you arrive, plan your whole day thoroughly or you will miss out on things. Also, best if you can stay until the end.
My children loved the wave rider. The queue didn't look long from the bottom, but it does take a while. Was worth it though, and fun watching everyone come down. Staff needed more rotation-it was obviously hard work and the one we saw was hurting his back doing it,
We watched the wild animal show - get there in plenty of time-people that arrived as it was about to start got turned away as it was packed. Worth going, the man presenting was very good, obviously has good knowledge of the animals but kept his talk to just the right amount of information without making it boring. The birds fly very close so if you aren't a bird fan you might not like this.
we didn't get time to do the other shows.
The indoor play area was very good- I was trying to avoid it as seemed a shame to be in on a nice day, but the boys were desperate and had a good time while I was able to relax. i didn't buy any food there, but saw it being served and it looked rather tasty. Nothing flash, but decent portions and the pizzas smelt yummy.
Overall we had a good day, and for the price its worth it, but you do need to plan your day well to make sure you get a chance to do everything. I think they could have some activities on for longer.

We visitors knockhatch this summer holiday & when we first arrived the parking was a bit of a nightmare but we found our way to the entrance. The que was huge but to be expected as it was hot day & school holidays. It moved pretty quick but as we had queued nearly half an hour a worker comes to ask us if we are paying cash, we were & had tesco days out vouchers, so he told us we could go straight to the front?! Not knowing till we got there was this little sign to state cash & tesco vouchers could go to a different entrance, but annoying. Would be nice if there were more signs to state this. The park itself was fab! Even though it was really busy the kids got on all the play areas & attractions, only queue was 15 mins for water slide which wasn't bad at all. Overall great day. Staff very friendly. very clean toilets. When leaving the park we noticed cars were parked everywhere, even on pathways so u couldn't get through with a push chair or wheel chair so it was a bit of a trek going going round all the cars just abandoned. Trying to drive the car out too was very dangerous squeezing round, I don't know how we didn't scrap a car! I think maybe staff directing parking like at paultons park would be an advantage.

Came to knockhatch and was quite dissapointed,Should be advertised as under 10s as my 12 and 13 year old found that only rowing boats ,bouncy pillows and the waterslide catered for there age.There were a couple of extras if you chose to pay for them on top of the 9.00 entrance fee.Of course every body loves animals and i and my girls just found the animals looked so sad,reindeer usually timid standing behind wire begging for food,owls didnt look happy and the poor birds tethered to a perch in the boiling sun with no shade and no way of reaching water was very distressing to us animal lovers.Can honestly say i wasnt happy with the whole animal experience okay for small children who just see them as being animals they can touch but,.Even the carp in the lake were upsetting.I could go on it was all so sad. HOWEVER the staff were all wonderful young polite and helpful and all had a wonderful smile to greet us all day .We stayed at the knockhatch campsite where we again were treated to friendly helpful faces and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay,a very back to basics camp and suppose the campfires should really have designated spots for safety,Toilets and showers are very basic but kept clean,Shop a bit messy but sold basic needs at a fair price and made a lovely cuppa.we will be back to camp again but i wont be returning to the park it was far too upsetting.

We visited this place after many years of driving past blissfully aware of what it was all about!

We had a thoroughly enjoyable day and cannot fault anything apart from maybe no apparent supervision in the petting area as some, not all, children can be rougher than maybe they should be with animals. That aside though, a great day and we will definitely return again soon.

A fun place for children of all ages to let off steam and have some fun. Pretty good for the adults too.

Took three girls here (12, 11 and 7) for the day. Prices vary throughout the year. It was £9.49 a child (under 2 free) adults £7.99 but used a coupon off Money Supermarket and got buy 1 get 1 free !! Look on Knockhatch web-site for more information on pricing and opening times.
Even though there are some attractions (i.e. Go karts) that you can pay extra for there is no need for these attractions as there is so much to see and do ! Great boating lake , crazy golf, wave runner (the hit of the day !) adventure play ground ....the list can go on and on ! There are plenty of picnic areas so you can keep the cost down by taking your own food and drink. The food to buy there is very competitively priced . I cannt praise this adventure park enough . Just great value and great fun for all ages.

Our kids had a brilliant day here - lots to do and see, and even though it was very busy (we queued for 15-20 mins to get in), we were able to do pretty much everything we wanted to without much of a wait. Although you do have to pay extra to do certain things once you are in, there is plenty of "free" stuff to keep the kids happy - the jumping pillows, the adventure playground, Pirates Cove pool, the animals and a falconry display etc. We were also able to take a picnic to keep the costs down, and the ice creams were very reasonable. We also used an online voucher to get in so 4 adults and 4 kids got in for less that £40 - not at all bad for a whole day out. Our one complaint would be that for some of things you need to pay extra for, the trip back to reception to get a ticket was just too far (e.g. the climbing wall). You can't always know on your way in which tickets you a going to want so perhaps a ticket machine or two in the park itself would be helpful?

I enjoyed going to the park but I wouldn't go again, I didn't think that there was that much to do. After seeing all of the animals there wasn't much more to see, the rides weren't very good and the turnaround time wasn't very fast. All the staff didn't seem to care about you and weren't very enthusiastic. I would recommend you go if you are in the area but don't expect a lot.

I took my two children to Knockhatch today August 28th , age 5 and 2. ,
Costs--entrance fee for us 3 was £21.47 , we got ice creams by the jumping pillow attraction, cost £1 each.
the staff - Staff as the icecream at said jumping pillow site, he was very slow , he was chatting to someone at the back door for a good 2 minutes whilst i waited and a queue formed. but still he looked about 16 so probably wasn't bothered. The girl with Blue hair at enterance was very cheerfully spoken but does call you "darling" in a way you do to a child manner she says it after every single sentence i thought she was talking to my 5yr old and relised it was to me haha. Nice though ...
The Animals- Are adorable, well kept, interactive petting zone is fab, and The kids loved it, If anything this is one of the best bits. baby piglets, baby lambs, reindeer, donkeys, llamas, the list goes on it's brilliant. well done Knockhatch.
A nice walk round the horses field part, Was lovely other than a few "parents" who smoke everywhere.. i even saw two fathers on the rowing boats having a fag each whilst the kids sat in their boat waiting for them to help row... I mention this only because i didn't see any NO SMOKING signs up anywhere and didn't know whether it was ok for these "parents" to smoke everywhere near my kids or they were just ignoring the rules? .. could be more no smoking signs (unless it's allowed, which i think is poor ,i'm guessing it's not)

under 8's park is good, has a obstacle,. Boat swings, Sandpit which kept my two and many other little ones occupied for about an hour. was brilliant.. wish there were more play parks like this about.

the Jumping pillow.. a MASSIVE blown up trampoline Bouncy castle.bound. , in fact there 2.
one's a square i think the others rectangle and attracts the bigger kids. the smaller one was the one mine uses. only slight twisted ankle occured ,but if you stick to the printed rules on a sign you shouldn't get hurt :), kids enjoyed it very much so.

will return to knockhatch when i have the money for entrance, wished the adult fee was cheaper.

we spent 3.5 hours here. i'm sure when my little children are bigger they'll spend longer with the use of more of the attractions.

..Bins were full up with wasps swarming round by the jumping pillow, the tissue for drying hands had run out by 1pm and hadn't been replaced/maintained since entering the park. thought that abit odd, doesn't take much for a rota for some staff to take upon themselves to assure tissue roll is available at all times for drying hands for animal touching..
so i suggest taking a roll of kitchen roll with you, i will be next time :)

Needs better bin and sink maintenance and No smoking rule applied ,with signs as i couldn't see any but saw plenty of smokers unfortunately.

GREAT PLACE FOR PLAY PARK.

We last visited two years ago and thourouhly enjoyed it. Today we returned again and had just as much fun. Fantastic value for money, the price of entry covers prety much most things, there are other activities for the kids that there is a small charge for which you pay @ reception. We pre-booked our tickets online prior to going and i am glad we did because the q was quite long., and as you have pre-booked you jump the q. There are loads of animals to look at some that you can feed. We went on the new Wave Runner ride which was totally fantastic. There is something for everyone. We opted to not take a picnic but got burgers etc which we very tast, but there are plenty of places to eat picnics. Take spare clothes as there are a few things which the kids will get wet on. A great place for a great family day out that does not burn a whole in your pocket. It was busy but you did not have to q for too long for ice creams or the other paying rides etc.

Brilliant place for all ages. My face is still aching from laughing at the kids on the quad pillar ride. Really good value for money, loads to do. We took a picnic but food looked good and value for money. Loads of animals and birds to look at, kids fed piglets and a wallaby by hand and thought it was great. Kids loved the water ride too, although I think I have a few extra grey hairs from watching. It was a hot day and kids shorts were too short to go on the death slide...I was quite relieved to be honest haha but nice to know he staff were thinking of their safety. Also the double swing thing caught one of the kids as they jumped on so definitely get them to wear longer shorts or trousers. Kids found loads to go on and didn't want to leave. Feeding the fish is a must too...the weirdest most fascinating spectacle I've seen in a long time haha. Staff were all lovely. Only negative thing of the day was other families there who weren't watching their kids or chucking cigarette butts on the floor. Thank you for a great day, just a shame we're not nearer.....still laughing at the quad pillar hahahaha

We took our 4 year old grand daughter on Sat 17th August. Thought it may be busy because of the summer holidays so were prepared for a lot of queuing etc. How wrong were we! She had the most wonderful time. There is lots for toddlers and older children alike and the staff are fantastic. We went along to shows which were great for the adults too, really interesting and informative and the enthusiasm given over from the staff presenting the shows just adds to the enjoyment of seeing the animals so close up and obviously happy and well cared for. The rides suitable for our grand daughter were brilliant and her favourite was the quadpillar (I think that's what it was called) which consisted of a quadbike pulling very excited children round in separate individual compartments. The indoor play area was huge and we lost her for the best part of 3/4 hour as she climbed through the maze of soft climbing frames. A welcome time for us to relax with a cup of tea knowing she was safe and enjoying herself. The entrance fee was very reasonable, was so the cost of the food. There is a covered picnic area if you wish to bring your own food also. Even though the park was busy there was no queuing, pushing or stressed children or adults like you get in the bigger theme parks. I cannot recommend Knockhatch enough if you want a lovely full day out which is not going to cost the earth and we will certainly be returning. Well done Knockhatch staff and management!

Two grandchildren, 3 and 7, school holidays, worn out mum and dad. Grandparents to the rescue to give just one day's relief! But where to take them which isn't too far, isn't too crowded (on a school holiday weekday!) and where we'll be able to keep up.

Knockhatch reminds me of how parks like Chessington and Thorpe Park used to be, just on a smaller scale. Go back 25 or so years when Chessington was more of a zoo than a theme park, and when Thorpe Park offered no white knuckle rides, but did have a farm and a pirate train. Manageable and friendly.

Queues to get in were minimal, although the car parks were filling fast. By proffering a couple of vouchers (obtained from their website) admission for the two children and two grandparents was reduced to below £20 for the lot (try that at the big parks now!). No charge for the car park and no long walk in.

Just inside the entrance is Froggies. A huge barn which is part refreshment and part play area (with slides, climbing bits, ball pits and lots of other attractions for youngsters). Fantastic - almost worth the admission in its' own right! And with instant coffee at £1 a cup and a toasted bun at just 50p, we parked the grandchildren and ourselves in two easy moves. Toilets are here too.

Everything is within easy reach at this park. Nice simple attractions with mainly short queues where there was a queue. The only exception to this was the rowing boats where the queue was long and not moving as there was no limit to the amount of time you had the boat for - this needs looking at to be fair to all I would suggest. But there was plenty else to see and do - miniature golf, bouncing cushions, tractor rides, oil drum rides behind a quad bike, a runaway train simulator, lots of animal interaction opportunities, adventure playgrounds and a lot more, with only the odd attraction not being included in the entrance price. Refreshments abounded, but unlike the big parks we found that the prices were very fair - even a premium ice cream cone in a biscuit cone was only £1.50 for a big scoop and regular wrapped ice creams were less.. At no point did we feel that we were being overcharged.

We had an excellent day spending around 6 hours in the park - albeit we did have a fair weather day. The grandchildren were suitably exhausted, as were we! And we didn't end up spending a fortune.

The one attraction that I would have like to have seen, providing both a ride and a really useful transport function, would be a miniature railway around the park. Perhaps the owners could get together with Eastbourne Miniature Railway on this one....?

Took my 7 year old daughter, 10 year old daugher and her friend for a day out here. It was a year since we had visited and we were looking forward to the new things on offer.
The entry fee reflects what is on offer at this adventure park. There is so much to do and so little time, we actually didn't get to do half the things we wanted to.
There are added extras like the bungee trampoline and go-karting but they are actually at a reasonable cost compared to other places.
The new wave runner is absolutely fantastic - I am always petrified of these sorts of things but I'm so glad I got over myself and managed another two times!
Queuing time wasn't too bad although we had to wait a long time on the bungee trampolines but kids loved it.
Having visited another place this week that charge £2.50 a scoop of ice-cream plus extra for flake it was good to see that Knockhatch are £1.50 a scoop and £2.50 for two scoops. They also have offers on various phone apps and websites!
The only downside was not getting our choice of scoop due to the cafe closing slightly earlier than we wanted but it still deserves a 5/5!
We will definitely be returning for more Wave runner fun!!

A visit to Knockhatch on 11/08/13 proved to be a really lovely day out, so much for children to do and see, from a young age up to adults. Animal petting, rides for young and old, good food, or take your own picnic. Animal information and shows. My grandchildren are 2 and one, they loved it and just seeing their happy faces made my day. A good treat for a family on a budget.

visited knockhatch a few times now and have experienced it enough to write a review. firstly, if its raining, you will struggle to stay and get your moneys worth. there are a few indoor attractions like the bird of prey house and the creepy crawlie show but if its raining then they will fill quick and also both would not surpass half an hour. there is a big play area in the middle of the park which is a nice addition if it does rain.
the park itself, in non rain conditions, is great, a big play area, lots of seperate rides/attractions and a great boating lake. you can stretch this day out and have a full day there if you dont hurry around and also you will go back to things ie jumping pillows, play area
overall for the price, its worth it definately, i have been to many parks/farms etc and come out feeling that really wasnt woth the money, this isnt one of those!

Great Value and Fantastic experience!<br>Went to Knockhatch with the kids today, 7 and 4 years old, after a few other trips to places like Chessington, Paultons, Legoland etc was a bit worried this wasn't going to be enough for them, but IT WAS BRILLIANT! It was fantastic value to get in, and so reasonable once you are in there, sure there are a couple of nominal charges for extras when in, but they were nothing by today's standards - don't let that earlier review put you off!! And it wasn't for many things - there were so many things included we were pleasantly surprised. It was well laid out and well kept and even in the holiday peak it wasn't rammed like so many other places. And it was refreshing to entertain the children in a great mix of old fashioned fun with a modern twist away from all the commercial rubbish of long queues for ott rides! Wish we'd discovered it sooner and been more times over the last few years! Highly recommended.<br><br>NB. Take either swimming gear or spare clothes as there is a paddling pool and a brilliant water slide that you can get wet on called the Wave Runner. (check it out on YouTube!)

We used to visit knockhatch a lot more when my children were younger and have visited recently with the grand children.
The staff are friendly and there is plenty of car parking and the whole place is well maintained.
There is something for everyone with play areas for children of all ages, animals that can be stroked, learned about and even fed, buying food from knockhatch. The birds of prey show is excellent and there are always new rides being added.
There is the option of taking a picnic or buying food and drinks from the cafe.

We visit Knockhatch every year and it is one of the holiday highlights for our children. We have always found the staff to be friendly and attentive and the area to be well maintained. The birds of prey show is very good and there are quite a few rides with one or two added the past few years. We were too early this year for the new water toboggan ride but; the runaway mine train is worth a go. We go during the week, just prior to school holidays, so; it is never crowded. I suspect however; it gets very busy during school holidays. Picnics are welcome and there is plenty of space to lounge around whilst the kids burn off energy. Spend the day and the children will be exhausted by evening.

...and it gets the children away from their electronic gadget...exercising more than just their thumbs!

This was fantastic your allowed camp fires, which is the whole point of camping. You get a real sense of freedom at this place. The staff are fantastic. Take your children here you won't regret it

Been to Knockhatch a number of times,it is great to have this park in the area. the management and staff are polite.Now having the NEW Wave Runner open both kids and adults can enjoy it together seeing who can the furthest at the end of the slide.
Would recommend Knock hatch a visit,.no extra cost for The Wave Runner