Handy place to take children when it's raining (Play Dome (Honiton))

Member Name: soutram

Product:	Play Dome (Honiton)
Date:	04/08/09 (178 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Keeps children entertained for a couple of hours whilst you relax with a coffee

Disadvantages: Little bit expensive

I recently had the pleasure of looking after my two nieces for a couple of days, (I had looked after them before but only for a couple of hours) the week before I had them I started to wonder how do I fill two days with a 4 year old and a 6 year old especially if it was raining.

I decided to have a look on the internet at local attractions (indoor), I didn't want to have to take them to far as I also have a 5 month old daughter to think about, she was the main reason I wanted to keep them busy, they end up playing with her else and lets say the 4 year old isn't exactly gentle.

I came across The Play Dome (www.theplaydome.com) which is only about 10 minutes away from where I live (Honiton, Devon), its an indoor play area with ball pools and slides etc, I thought this would be an ideal place to go with them.

So on the first day with them off we went. On arriving I found that the car park was very small, only room for about 10 cars so we ended up parking on the road, this was ok as its very quite around the area so the cars where perfectly safe there. Entering the building you are greeted with a safety door, you have to be buzzed in and out of the premises which is very reassuring as you know once you are in the building your child cannot get out without you.

Now what is there, well when you get in the room you see a fairly big play frame, pretty much the same as you find in any indoor play area, you have the junior area which is for under 4's only which has a ball pool and soft shapes to climb over etc and the over 4's play section which has a ball pool with ball shower and blower, a 4m astra slide (slide with bumps in it), a 4m drop slide (death drop slide), tubes with spy holes, a helicopter (which is quite high up & has a propeller that you can spin).

All the equipment has padded cushions around so no harm can come to your child (unless they are like my nieces who go down the astra slide together and end up going so fast they got airborne and ended up crashing quite dramatically into the end).

There is plenty of seating here and a café which serves lots of snack type food (jacket potatoes, pizzas, pasta, baguettes, cakes and drinks). The prices are quite reasonable but service can be quite slow, I have herd of people waiting up to two hours for food when its busy.

The prices of entry are
Off peak (school term time) 1-4 year olds £3.25, over 5 £4.95
Peak time (school holidays 1-2 year olds £3.25 and over 3 year olds £4.95.

Now the first adult goes free and any extra adults have to pay £1 and believe it or not if you have 6 month - 1 year old and no other children with you then its cost you £1.50 to get them in which I thought was crazy as a 6month-1 year old will not be able to play on any of the equipment. You can stay as long as you like but if they are very busy then they limit it to two hours. They are open seven days a week from 10am - 6pm and you can hire it for birthdays etc between 6pm & 8pm.

I was glad that I came across this place (even though I found out the kids had been before), we where there for about two hours, while the kids played I sat and had a nice cup off coffee and read a book and my little girl had a sleep with out being disturbed by two bored kids.

Summary: A handy place to have locally, especially with our rubbish summer weather