A day out at Moors Valley Country Park, Dorset

Moors Valley is in Ashley Heath, Dorset on the borders with Hampshire.  It’s a great day out if you live in the area or are visiting the New Forest or South England.   This blog will advise you the best things to do at Moors Valley Country Park, so that you know what to expect.  It will guide you through our visit and give practical tips, so that you can plan your own visit to Moors Valley.

We started our day out on the Play Trail.  We followed the play trail path through the forests, stopping every now and then at a giant wooden playframe.  These all have a nature theme, such as ants’ nest, a giant eagle and a crocodile.  Kids can climb, balance, crawl, run and jump.  It is outdoor adventure at its best.

The trail is only 1 mile, so is suitable for children of all ages.  Trails are easily accessible for buggies and wheelchairs.

Of course, being in a forest you can also stop to make dens, climb a tree or play hide and seek.  Little children may wish to look out for sculptures of characters from the Gruffalo books, which can be found near the forest picnic areas.

Near to the Visitors’ Centre is an education room, the Ranger Den.  They have a number of tanks with small creatures.  We fell in love with the tiny harvest mice, who had been caught in the nearby meadow field and bred.

We also saw snakes, lizards and tadpoles.  They are all creatures that live at Moors Valley Country Park.  The ranger was present to answer any questions children might have and there were lots of information boards.

Younger children could also try their hand at fossil hunting.

For those wanting more high-adrenalin adventure in the tree tops, you can pay to do one of the Go Ape courses.  You get to follow an obstacle course over suspended walkways and challenges at 11 metres in the sky.

They have 2 courses at Moors Valley:-

• Go Ape Tree Top Challenge is for children over 10 years old, who need to be supervised by an adult.
• Go Ape Tree Top Adventure is for younger children.  There is no minimum age, but children have to be at least 1 metre.

Top tip:  Book in advance as they are very popular at weekends and in the holidays.

Having done the Go Ape quite a few times.  the Chimptrips boys opted to try Nets Adventure.

This is basically a playground in the trees.  Children run around the nets and play with the giant inflatable balls (well throw them at each other).  When we were there, there was a sonic time trial challenge too.

Details of prices can also be found on Go Ape.

Top tip:  The session lasts 2 hours and has to be supervised, so take a friend or a book!

After our 2-hour session in the Nets Adventure, we headed for the playgrounds.  Moors Valley has two adjacent playgrounds, aimed at different aged children.  We chose the Adventure Play Area, with its zip wire, castle of towers, walkways and tunnel slide for older kids.

Younger children could go next door to the Castle and Sandworks area, where the amusements are a bit gentler.

After our trip to the playground, we took a short walk around Moors Lake.  This is a pretty walk, which starts and finishes by the railway station.  There is a kiosk here where they have a good selection of ice creams.  In the summer, the meadow is an ideal picnic spot, but it was extremely water-logged when we went.

If you are an angler, you can pay for a permit to go fishing on the Lake.

Moors Valley Park has a rather charming miniature railway, which runs around the playgrounds and lake.  Kids love riding the steam train, as it goes through tunnels, makes lots of steam and blows its whistles.  You even get to change stations at the authentic Kingsmere Station.