Compared to the postage stamp farms closer in to the city, this place is positively palatial, and…read moreseems to take up most of King George V Park. However it's probably just as densely populated with animals, including ponies, pigs, sheep and goats. The have hen coops where you are allowed to feed bread to the chickens, and a pond which has several species of duck and some rare geese. It's all very pretty and clean, though the cats ignore visitors and I couldn't blame them. Several visiting kids were going on about 'scaring the cats away', right in front of their smiling parents. What's that about? You've got to wonder if some people deserve places like this Being larger than the average city farm they can go a little further with the animals They have a shire horse, a very unfriendly turkey who was not happy with anyone coming near his domain, ferrets (not visible when I visited) peacocks and a kookaburra. You don't see one of them on a farm every day! Definitely recommended if you are in the area.

I work just around the corner from this farm, took me ages to visit but so glad that I did. I could…read morewalk there so I dont know about car parking. Though I know there is a park opposite the front gate to the farm which has a small car park. The farm itself is set out very well as soon as you enter you are greeted by a pen of goats and sheep, they look very well looked after. They also have pigs, chickens, horses, ponies and ducks to name but a few. They have special days during the summer when they have kids days out, I think they do face painting etc. Dont just pass this little attraction, go to it today, it is well worth a visit!

Although the place is really cool, 2 weeks ago we went there again for some well deserved fun in…read morethe sun. Unfortunately, my kid and his friends found a dead bird in the middle of the playground. He was very intrigued and he even picked it up and was swinging the stinky thing around to show me. I know....don't ask... Obviously, I was mortified!! I told the staff about what happened and they weren't very surprised but they said they'll clean it up. Last week we went again and guess what, the bird was still there!! Totally unacceptable! The staff totally ignored that bird, the smell (ugh) or the fact that kids are playing next to a health hazard.

This is the best place to bring your kids on their school holidays! The playground is a charity…read morewhich provides loads of activites in areas such as arts and crafts and cooking. I think this is better for younger kids in your family - the lovely staff here will make them feel so welcome! The outside is very bright and colourful - there are sandpits and lots of play equipment. I think that it's restricted to children who live in the borough, as you have to register to use the park, but if there's room they welcome others! My friend's children love this place and I always enjoy bringing them here!

Toad Hall Adventure play is open 7 days a week and offers soft play facilities for children from…read morebabies through to juniors. There's a good under 3s section with a ball pit and 2-stage climbing frame (soft). There are some sit-on soft toys and some blocks. The floor is a bit suspect and there's a bit of an old smell to the area - nothing terrible but you do notice it. The play equipment appears safe but could be in better condition. The main soft play is a triple height affair with climbing, balls, slides and chutes. It's safe and in better condition than the toddler area. At weekends and after school this place can get packed but, during the day it's not too bad. A cafe facility is available serving teas, coffees, soft drinks and snacks. The prices are reasonable. Tables are kept away from the soft play being behind a low wall. They are OK but there's not a good view of the play area meaning that it's hard to have a coffee and take care of your child. For many parents this just seems to mean that they don't watch their child and so you do have to be careful that your child doesn't get set upon by unrully kids. It's not a particularly comfortable place but it's a good local option for a rainy day. Car parking is available.

I cannot rave enough about Finkley Down Farm. I don't even have kids I can use as an excuse - I…read moresimply come here to relax and spend some time with the animals. The atmosphere is relaxed and peaceful and the abundance of cute greedy animals desperate for you to feed them is nothing short of delightful. Their animals range from goats and sheep to chickens to cows right over to the more unusual llamas and highland cows. Even if you're not into getting close to the animals or feeding them the buckets of food available at the ticket office, just watching them mooch around is still fun and relaxing. The llama took somewhat of a disliking to me (was it something I said?) and stormed at me, looking like it could easily clear the fence and gain its freedom. I wasn't going to hang around to find out. One look at my pathetic retreating hide running off into the distance was enough to reduce its anger to mere disdain, and instead he decided to spit all over me. In some sort of random heroic act, the pig sharing its pen flung itself at the llama as if to take the blow for me, and rather than reflect on the llama soaking I'd been given, I instead watched this pig take one for the team. Right in the eye, no less. From hereonin, I shall name this pig SuperPig. If you do have kids you can pretend are the reason for visiting, there's plenty to keep them occupied. Other than the animals you can feed, there are talks and handling sessions with some of the smaller or baby pets throughout the day. There's also a nice adventure playground and a couple of trampolines to wear them out on too. There's a small gift shop and a place to buy some food, as well as a picnic area if you're sensible enough to bring your own food. I love this place and can't wait to go back when it reopens for the season next year.

A lovely little petting farm for a day out with the family. Entrance fee is very reasonable. Farm…read moreisn't huge by anyone's standards but just about big enough for an afternoons walking about without it being too much for the little/older ones. Lots to see and many activities laid on for the children. Arm them with a bucket of food from the entrance first though or you will find yourself running back for some! On site cafe sells everything from fish & chips to ice cream or just a cuppa. Toilets well sign posted and clean. Lots of basins and hand gel dotted around for after you have touched the animals. Nice staff who are kid friendly. Congratulations to the farm for keeping the gift shop prices low, lots of souvenirs on sale for under £2.

Adorable zoo about an hour to hour and a half from Central London. If you have the time and a car I…read moredefinitely recommend this zoo over the ZSL zoo. Every exhibit has multiple viewpoints here. There were plenty of opportunities to easily see all the animals here. The enclosures were extremely well kept and I think all had an indoor and outdoor area for the animals. There are multiple play areas throughout for kids here too. My kids also enjoyed the animatronic dinosaurs here (very cute). Food here was reasonably priced but we ate outside the park. Parking was free. They offer a lot of different animal interactions here. The prices for all were pretty high but for a special gift I'm sure they are totally worth it. You can also buy carrots to feed the animals in the petting zoo.

Overall great day out for the family ! I would say 50% animals 50% outdoor play for the kids (with…read moresome indoor) I did find some of the cages quite small for the animals but one of my only criticisms! There were a few extras while you were there so take additional money but to be expected at these places! ( it's set up for packed lunches which is great for families ) There is a good choice of animals to see and you can buy food which a good selection of animals to feed! They also had a lots of showing through out the day and I got to stroke a snake :). The park had a good layout where you can easily walk around and find where you are going plus you get a handy map! There have an indoor soft play at the entrance which is good and bad! Means the kids want to go these straight away instead of seeing the animals and you don't pass on the way out! The soft play was great for all ages and served your average drinks and food - one thing I will say which was disappointing was they charged me for a bit of milk for my baby! I always pay my way but this is the first place that have ever charged me for milk! Worth a visit and tickets are not expensive - look out for groupon deals!

Full of unsupervised children on school trips…read more Too claustrophobic for smaller children. Not enough staff to run the activities they have for kids. Pretty much a waste of time and money for us. But wait! Let us upsell you more!

This place is a great activity for the kids on our spring break vacation. The staff is amazing and…read moreso helpful

We went here today with my two children aged 6 and 2. It is a holiday at her school so it was a…read morequiet afternoon with hardly any people about. The Watford branch of Gambado is brand new, so everything is sparkling clean and attractive to look at. The whole area is large and well spaced. Taking focal point was a massive playframe. There was a large four-lane slide as well as some of those rotating slides (not sure what it's called). There was a seperate area for under-2s. Tame enough to keep older kids away but still fun for the younger ones. They had large building blocks too, a nice touch. Next to the playframe was a climbing wall. The cafe was okish, nothing too great. Food was well presented but limited in variety. The only hot meal options seemed to be pizza and sandwiches. There were some nice salads too. The cafe had nice seating, transparent rounded chairs in different colours. Very well spaced out tables, not your typical softplay cafe. Prices were a bit on the high side. They had some areas with big chalkboards for the children to scribble on. And another place for musical experimenting, different things to bang on and make sounds. They also had some magnet play. Under some clear glass thingies were magnet shavings, pins etc. that children could pull a magnet over, causing patterns. There was also a fairly large track for dodgem cars. For adults there was a seperate lounge. There were computers with internet access, newspapers etc. It didn't look like children were allowed there, the notice said Adults Only. Strange that, who'd be watching the kids while the parents sat in a seperate area? It cost £15 entrace for me and the kids. By far the most expensive place for this sort of activity. You didn't have to spend any money inside though (unless you want to eat), everything was unlimited. There were plenty of lockers, clean and spacious, to deposit your belongings. It is free to use and you only need a £1 coin cif you want to lock it (it is refunded). Toilets are reasonably clean too, but I don't know if that is because it was a quiet day. Would recommend it if nothing cheaper is close to you. Works out quite expensive for a small family even.

Great place to take the kids. The membership I have works brilliantly as we use it more in the…read morewinter. Love how it caters to the younger ones aswell as the older ones. The party's are fab as they take care of everything especially being heavily pregnant and exhausted over the summer it was one less thing to worry about!