visiting quirky watermouth castle - Bubbablueandme
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A day trip to quirky Watermouth Castle

While on our camping holiday we’d had several recommendations from our camping buddies to visit Watermouth Castle.  I was told it was a rather quirky and twee adventure park, great for younger primary school age children.  I’m happy with quirky, so on our final full day, a group of us with younger children headed off to Watermouth.

visiting quirky watermouth castle - Bubbablueandme

Watermouth Castle is like a miniature theme park for kids, complete with purpose built castle, activities, rides, gnomes and historical museum pieces.  All set in some beautiful gardens.

water gardens at Watermouth Castle

The entry cost is around £13 for adults and children over 92cm (under this height go free), but they do have seasonal offers.  Look out for discount vouchers in tourist leaflets too.

To get into the park, you enter through the castle itself. In each room there are themed collections of items.  From an Abba singing robot group to a kitchen with old working equipment.

singing robots at Watermouth castle
The singing robots from La Palma
pasta making at watermouth castle
kitchen taps at Watermouth castle

There’s also a ‘turret’ of vacuum cleaners, and a room with a model railway and lots of other fairground style games  All of them are available for visitors to play on, from old fashioned grabbers, to horse racing, to spooky twin dolls drinking their milk. You just need to keep feeding in 2ps and 10ps.

railway signs at Watermouth castle
twin doll game at watermouth castle
The slightly creepy drinking dolls

We skipped past the dungeons after N and N decided against going in, and whizzed through the castle and straight out to the courtyard.  It was perfect timing because we were able to head straight into the water fountain light show.  The show is every half hour for around 20 minutes.  Ok, it’s not Las Vegas but it’s a lovely little show and certainly kept all of us entertained.  It’s a fun light and music show complete with added patriotic flavour.

water fountain and light display at watermouth castle
water fountain show at flagsat Watermouth Castle

While waiting for our friends we stopped at the cafe for drinks and cake.  I had a delicious scone and toppings, before both of us adults struggled to stay on the very slippy benches while the children played on the miniature carousel.

Every way you turn at Watermouth Castle you spot something new to see. A button to press, a display that pops out.  At intervals in the courtyard a door opens and an animal band starts to play and sing. N loved spotting out the quirky displays hidden around the site.

musical animal display at watermouth castle

The rides

Then it was onto the rides. They’re all great for pre-schoolers and upwards.  N was in his element and they rushed from one ride to the next before stopping for a lunchtime picnic.  All of the rides clearly state what height child can ride on their own, with an adult, or not ride at all.  The 2 year olds in our group didn’t get to go on much at all which is a shame, but at least they didn’t have to pay.

rides at Watermouth Castle
airplane ride at watermout castle
the snail ride at watermouth castle

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Alongside the rides, the activites are never ending.  We had fun on the toboggan ride – I wasn’t sure N would do it, but he did.  Although I should have held on to the GoPro* myself because he managed to turn it off!

toboganning at Watermouth castle

Interactive activities

The cannon ball room was a big hit.  Us adults didn’t get near the cannons, our job was to pick up balls.

alley at Watermouth castle

Then there’s water games, musical ditties, fairground grabber games, mini golf and more. And despite how hot it was, the park was never full (and we didn’t have to queue for the toilets either).

hamster wheel walkway at watermouth castle
playing music at watermouth castle
the guillotine statue at watermouth castle
This didn’t seem appropriate for a kids adventure park. And yes he head did get chopped off

With the hot weather ice creams were order of the day as were multiple slides down the ‘world’s longest tube slide’.  A grand claim, and the children would agree how good it was.

coming down the tunnel slide at watermouth castle

We also enjoyed walking and exploring through the gardens. There’s plenty of water play areas within the gardens, perfect for summer days to keep children cool.

purple hydrangeas at Watermouth castle
fuschias at watermouth castle
playing in the water at watermouth castle
water play at Watermouth castle

Our final stop off was a walk through Gnomeland.  Yes, I said quirky and eccentric, and gnomes tick the odd box. But the children loved seeing them, and the gnome village.  It just seems to fit well with the style of the park.

looking at the gnome village
4 sitting on up and down seats at watermouth castle

The day out at Watermouth Castle was great fun, perfect for young children with just as much there to amuse the adults.

Must dos:

  • The toboggan ride
  • The water fountain show

Watch outs:

  • It’s hilly so be prepared for hard walking especially if you have a pushchair or very young child with you
  • Give the children a certain pot of money on going in so they can change it and use it as they want to on the games.  Otherwise you’ll be pestered throughout for more money.

Have you ever been to Watermouth Castle or anything like it?

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19 Comments

  1. That does look very quirky but what a fun day out! N looks like he’s enjoying himself and I love the look of the water fountain light show, the rides and the gnome village. Those milk drinking dolls do look a bit creepy though! #CountryKids

  2. I so want to go here lol. It sounds like you all had a great time here too and your pictures are fabulous. Xx #countrykids

  3. Lovely place! So quirky and has a lot of cute items around! It sure is a nice site for kids to have an adventure =)

    Thanks for commenting on my blog and I am sorry if its hard to comment. I am trying to check it out now.

    #countrykids

    1. Ah, must have been a quirk. Tried on 2 posts over the last couple of days, but managed on one of them. Hopefully that’s it sorted now as never had an issue before. New ish laptop so having to set up lots of sign ins that were automatic before!

  4. This looks like such a fun place to visit. I can believe the variety of activities available. How long were you at the castle? I agree with you, the dolls do look a bit creepy. #countrykids

  5. Looks like a fun, quirky place, I don’t think I have seen anything like it before but sounds like you all enjoyed it! 🙂 Can’t get over those creepy dolls haha but the cannon ball room looks brilliant! #countrykids

    1. I was gutted in the cannonball room. It was being hogged by another group of kids and adults so only 3 of our kids got to have a go and none of the adults.

  6. I love castles where they have lots to do especially with little ones. Those dolls do looks very creepy though., I think I’d have thought about them just before falling asleep!

    1. LOL, it was a very strange activity. You put your money in then raced another person to see which doll drank its milk the quickest. Very Hitchcock-esque!

  7. I love the look of this place and I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it before. When you mentioned the entry prices at the start I thought it was a little steep, however the more I read and saw the more I felt the price is justified. This looks like a really good day out with plenty of fun for children with just enough history and learning. I think even my kids would love that toboggan ride.

    Thank you for sharing with me on #CountryKids

    1. I always think cost for young kids places can be pricy, but for a full day out it was great. I didn’t even begrudge paying the price for me either – quite often for ‘kids’ places you pay to chaperone your kids and not get much out of it, but this was fun for everyone. (even if we took the mick out of the place all the time)

  8. Quirky is a good word for it. Looks like someone had fun dreaming all this up. I can see how it would appeal to the younger children who love pressing every button they can. N’s smiling face, on the rides, says it all. #CountryKids

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