Blackgang Chine is a fabulous and historic theme park
family attraction on the south west coast of the
Isle of Wight. Blackgang Chine has the most
stunning location, set amongst 40 acres of Victorian
cliff top gardens with incredible
sea views. The steep cliff side lends this
deceptively large attraction an extra air of
excitement and magic as each
themed section is a new discovery along the winding
cliff paths.Blackgang is unique in
recognising that its strength is in its
quirky interactive features and its fantastic
atmosphere. If you are looking for
thrill rides this is not necessarily the best place for you although there is a
rollercoaster and a water tunnel ride called
Water Force that are more "traditional"
adrenaline rides.
The park is split into lots of
different sections - including
Nurseryland, Dinosaurland, Frontierland and Fantasyland.
Pippa, who is 17 months, was
mesmerised by Nurseryland, a collection of
nursery rhyme models including all the favourites and a
musical tree containing goblins and gnomes playing musical instruments. Pippa was so taken by the area that we found a
shady bench to eat our picnic lunch there just so that she could peer into the "
magical" tree and gaze at the
toddler-height models to her heart's content!
Toby, who will soon be
five, loved everything and was
hard pressed to decide which area he liked best - the combination of
running from the pirate ship to giant climbable
dinosaur models, then on to spooky houses and into the
cowboy territory of Frontierland was a winner.
There are
over 20 different attractions, including a number of animated
indoor shows including the Crooked House, musical pet shop and
Rumpus Mansion, a spooky set inside a real old house. This was just on the right side of
scary for Toby, who crept
nervously through the dark corridors. There was also the
Triassic Club where animated dinosaurs
invited you for supper!
Other
attractions are located predominantly outside and include
Jonah's Whale, a giant whale which squirts water at you as you run through it and this season's new attraction, a
Giant Bug walk featuring interactive
gnomes who talked to anyone who came to sit on their
garden bench. We also sampled the
smugglers' ship, pirate fort and - perfectly placed at the end of the park - a magical looking
Fairytale Castle complete with rolling green grass for
weary adults to rest upon whilst youngsters clambered around the
castle and rolled down the slopes.
I loved the way the
attractions have been designed to reflect the
geography of the site. The life size
snakes and ladders made up of huge slides and steps being a
perfect example. We had no problem
pushing the buggy around the paths around
Blackgang as they were steep yet easily
accessible (although I couldn't help but feel that it would have been a
hard slog with a
wheelchair).
The setting is
fantastically beautiful and there is loads to do, a number of the attractions had a
faded quality that appealed to me and led to
their charm. It's worth remembering that
Blackgang Chine has been open since
1843! We must have
stayed for nearly
five hours but the time flew and Toby could definitely have
stayed longer. Blackgang was full of people but never felt uncomfortable and one of the
joys of an attraction like this is that
queues for rides do not dampen enjoyment as they would in a
traditional theme park.If your
children fall into the
pre-teen bracket I really think that they would have a
great day out at Blackgang Chine.
Ticket prices: Per person (four to 60 years) £9.50
Saver ticket (4 persons) £35.00
Senior citizens £7.50
Disabled concession £7.50
Unlimited free return within seven days after your first visit.
Opening times 2009:
Until 5 September, daily 10am to 6pm
6th September - 11 September, daily 10am to 5pm
12 September - 23 October, open Tues/Wed/Thurs/Sat/Sun: 10.30am to 4.30pm
24 October - 1st November, daily 10am to 4.30pm
For more information on the Isle of Wight go to: www.islandbreaks.co.uk
