Days Out...Paulton's Park (From Swindon Advertiser)

Days Out...Paulton's Park

4:05pm Thursday 12th August 2010 in

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“SCREAM if you want to go faster” are words you often hear on fairground rides, yet I needed no encouragement in that department as I held on for dear life on The Edge, the first ride of its kind in the UK at Paultons Park.

Paultons theme park is aimed at people young and old, with gentle rides like the Ladybird, Rabbit and Seal Falls to suit the teeny ones and faster, wetter and higher rides such as The Jumping Bean, Cobra Coaster and Pirate Ship swingboat for the adrenalin junkies.

To calm the nerves after such extreme excitement there is a lovely trail beside the lake which links the garden, bird and animal areas. There are meercats, wallabies, emus and penguins to name a few, and we marvelled at theowls and the colourful birds such as toucans, parrots and flamingos.

There are refreshments available around the park and plenty of green space to picnic. The children can splash about or climb around in the play areas. In addition to all this there will be a Peppa Pig World, set to open next April.

After lunch and a few fairly sedate family rides such as the Sky Swinger, Wave Runner and Stinger Rollercoaster with my eight-year-old daughter and her friend I plucked up the courage to step on board the park’s newest ride The Edge (rictured right) with my friend’s 14-year-old son – there was no way she was going to go on with him.

He said it was the best ride in the park which didn’t help the nerves building up in my stomach. I piped up in the queue that I might back out if I had to wait for the next ride, as people boarded in front of us.

Much to my surprise, and his enjoyment, the ride controller announced there were two more spaces left and, instead of cowering behind the remaining queue, my hand shot up in the air.

As I straddled the seat and clutched on to the handles a young girl to my left was grinning at me. I looked at her and asked her in a I’m not scared tone, if the ride was anything like the pirate ship but on a bigger scale and she replied – ‘It’s much better’.

Let’s just say, I had the ride of my life. Talk about fear and adrenalin with a heavy dose of tummy twists all rolled into one. The only way to let it all out was to scream at the top of my voice for the duration of the ride.

I apologised to the girl and my friend’s son for the volume of my noise as we exited the ride.

I enjoyed it that much I was tempted to stand in the queue again, but we’d promised the kids the Raging River ride was going to be the last ride of the day.

Book tickets online at www.paultonspark.co.uk. The cost for a family of three ticket is £51.50. A family of four is £68 and for five is £85 via the website. Each family must include at least one paying child under 12 years old. Single ticket price per person is £18.

Children under one metre go free. Senior citzens pay £15.50. Prices are increased slightly for payment at the entrance to the park.