How to have an amazing family day out at Bewilderwood, Cheshire

The second Bewilderwood site in the UK is located next to the historic Cholmondeley Castle in Malpas, South Cheshire.

We had always heard such great things about the original site in Norfolk, we had wanted to visit since our eldest was a toddler – he is 13 now, and so a visit was well overdue and so we were excited to go to the new site which is much closer to our home!

With a 13, 11 and 4 year old we had a mixed age range but we love to be outdoors, be in a forest, be imaginative and play together and so Bewilderwood seemed a perfect place for a family day out!

The new Bewilderwood site is a multi-million pound woodland adventure park in Cheshire which boasts treetop walkways, magical treehouses, huge slides, extra-long zip lines and multiple mazes as well as a raft of interactive storytelling adventures!

The park is based on the Boggle at BeWILDerwood stories by author and creator Tom Blofeld, and the experience revolves around the magical characters that live in the trees and the woodland – with the adventure brought to life by storytellers on the site.

There’s slides of all sizes, mazes, climbing frames, swings and sand pits – so plenty for big and little kids alike!

Imaginations are fired with live puppet shows at the storytelling stage as well as Den Building and crafting!

So here are our tips for having an amazing family day out at BeWILDerwood Adventure Park, Cheshire…..

1/ Start slowly…..the adventure starts weaving through the paths into the woods and coming across the tiny homes of the Twiggles in the trees. Skip through the paths too fast and you might miss them! and you definitely wouldn’t want to – we spent ages hunting and delighting over them and at the end of our day, 4 year old Charlie declared they were the favourite part of his day!

2/ Everyone needs to go on the slides!! Who doesn’t love a slide?! And this is the perfect place to get sliding! Even if you think you are too old / too serious / too embarrassed / too scared / or think you don’t want to – then just do it! Slide and smile….smile and slide! the kids will love that you are sliding with them too!!

3/ Team up and get lost! – if your group size allows (i.e. if there are more than 2 of you!) then divide into teams and see who can find their way through the maze first – definitely the best way to tackle a maze!

4/ Try all the zip wires! OK, spoiler they are all the same size and length and cleverly positioned to minimise queues and help flow. However, its a good excuse to do them all – just to test! After all, you never ride a zip wire too much!

5/ Don’t leave the den building until last – even though the den building area is near the end; we would advise leaving plenty of time for it – once you are stuck in neither you or the kids will want to leave until you have built the best den ever!!

6/ Get to the storytelling show early – we got there 20 minutes before show time. They let people in from 15 minutes beforehand and numbers are limited, so get there early to make sure you don’t miss it! It’s simple, storytelling fun with impressive puppets and lots of interaction required from the kids in the audience. Charlie was doing the ‘wiggle like a twiggle’ for the rest of the day!

7/ Take a picnic – there are plenty of super picnic spots and because of the fantastic play areas, children can run and play while you eat and chill, taking in the forest vibes!

8/ Look up – the whole vibe of the park, including the equipment, theming and attractions is done in a way that compliments the forest; the natural environment and creates an imaginative woodland world to explore and enjoy – and there are some brilliant creations, woodland houses and structures up in the trees, so make sure you look up and appreciate the all the magic.

9/ Expect to spend at least 3 hours there – and you can even be there the full day! The park is laid out so you can easily go back and forth between different areas. It’s big enough for people to be spread out and it not feel too busy, but small enough for little legs to not get too tired (but tired enough for a peaceful journey home!)