Knockhatch Meerkat Experience: My Girls had the Best Fun! (Review)

During the Easter holiday we took a trip over to Knockhatch Adventure Park in Hailsham, East Sussex.  We've been before (check out my review here) and the girls had a fabulous time, but I'd never been on a weekend or on a school holiday before and wow, it was busy. As we drove up we were directed to an overflow car park and if I'm honest, I started to feel a bit of dread at how busy it might be, but despite it being super busy I have to so I was pleasantly surprised and we had a great day. The girls were able to get one everything they wanted and the queues were nothing like I've experienced at theme parks like Legoland.

I won't go into all the attractions that are available at Knockhatch (you can have a look at my review, I've linked to above if you fancy more insight), but there are loads and they seem to be really good at adding extra attractions and offering more value. This year they've added a great new wooden Dragons play castle and high wire experience. The basic ticket on an orange day (high season) is £12.99 before any discount is applied and if you book online, you get 20% discount, or my favourite is to use our local 1066/ Town City Card and get 25% off. 

Costs and Booking

The great news is that when you are going along to take part in one of their experiences the entrance to the park is included and you can use the park for the whole day. We got a 2 for 1 Meerkat experience via Red Letters Days and the cost for this currently is £49, which is a super bargain, as this allowed both girls entry to do their experience and up to two adults (17 years plus) can go along as their responsible adults/ spectators. So that is £49 for entry for four and two of those got to spend 30 minutes hands on with the meerkats.  They have a few experiences available and we would definitely book for another one as we found the meerkat one excellent. 

When I booked last year, I had to ring but I see now you can book online for the experiences. To get a weekend date I needed to book about 3 months in advance. There are two slots for the meerkat experience each day 10.30am and 4pm, each lasts for half an hour and it will only be your party, which feels really exclusive.  The price to book direct with Knockhatch is £48 for one person and £64 for two people. 

Once booked you're advised to wear long trousers, sleeves and closed in shoes for the experience.

Knockhatch Adventure Park, Hailsham, East Sussex - Review

Recently my girls were lucky enough to have a Monday inset day and we used this as the perfect opportunity to visit Knockhatch without it being too busy. I would say that Knockhatch Adventure Park is a perfect (and really reasonably priced) day out if your child is aged between about 2 - 12 years. My twins are just about to turn 11 and they’re on the cusp of being a bit big for some of the attractions.

As we were visiting with many friends with kids of varying ages it worked well as they were able to help the little ones in the Pirates Cove splash area and on things like the soft play and Quadapillar ride without feeling too big. I have to admit to being really pleasantly surprised by the whole park. We had briefly visited about five years ago and not been that impressed but this visit was enough to make us want to go back a good few times before the girls really outgrow it.

High Season, Term Time

We visited on an Orange day, which is high season but within term time, so everything was open but we had timed sessions for them all and there was at least three or four sessions (spread throughout the day) for each activity/attraction in the day so you could do most everything. I have to be honest though, we found it hard to fit everything in during the five hours we were there. We were given a leaflet with the times as we arrived so it was easy to be able to plan.