Prisoner X reporting for duty, Sir! (Eden Camp)

Member Name: werewolf2

Product:	Eden Camp
Date:	18/05/09 (51 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: plenty to do, keeps the men happy

Disadvantages: limited seating if weather bad

Eden Camp
Opening Times:10 till 5pm with last admissions at 4pm, seven days a week, but the museum shut over the Christmas period from the 23rd December 2009 and re-open 11th January 2010.
Prices: £5 per adult, Senior Citizens/Children/Disabled £4, Under 3's free. They do not accept debit or credit cards.

Further information E-mail: admin@edencamp.co.uk Internet Homepage: http://www.edencamp.co.uk Postal Address: Eden Camp Modern History Theme Museum Malton North Yorkshire YO17 6RT.
According to the map leaflet we were given on entering the former Prisoner of War camp, there are 33 huts. Be prepared for plenty of walking, as although there are plenty of huts to go in there are few seats (particularly if it is raining) other than in the coffee shop and if you go when the schools are visiting expect the huts, coffee shop, ice cream hut, and souvenir shop to be extremely busy. I suggest that you wear sensible shoes too, as there can be slippery surfaces in the huts (and outside particularly if it is raining).

We were staying at Cayton Bay, Scarborough and it was about 20 miles from the caravan park and took about ½ an hour to get there. It was very clearly marked on most of the main roads but a word of warning to the Satnav users out there, we put the Post code in and were sent down a very narrow bumpy muddy path past some terraced houses and into the back of beyond - which in a large 4x4 7 seater minibus was (for the passengers) not good news. Luckily we spoke to a man walking his dog who directed us back on to better roads. Try to stick to the main roads and you'll be fine.
On arrival at the park due to being just opened for the day, we were able to park quite close to the entrance. If you need to get back to your car, at any time, you can as it is part of the site - so you do not have to get a stamp or pass. This was a good idea of the planners. Parking is included in your ticket price - no additional charge.

The map provided has pictures of the huts on it, with a corresponding number on it, where each is. Unlike many theme parks, there are no rides at this attraction. There is a mini fort/adventure playground for the children and plenty of tanks, vehicles and airplanes to look at and pose in front of and you can pretend to be a sentry or in an air raid shelter.
Unlike Flamingo Land, we were able to push Mark around in his pushchair with no real problems at all. The only time it was a problem was in the coffee shop (no room to leave him on the end of a table without being in the way of other shop users), and in the souvenir shop - as we went in at a particularly busy time.

Although this is mainly of interest to the boys in our party (2 adults and a baby), the women were able to enjoy wandering around at leisure. Unfortunately the Music Hall wasn't doing performances on the day we attended (or perhaps was only available for the school trips) but apart from that we saw most of the huts. The two men went off on their own thing in such a rush that Richard left the lights on his car, so we had to call the AA out to rescue us when they wanted to go!
There are special events throughout the year - but we were not lucky enough to go on one of these days, which sounded great fun. This year (2009) there is a fire engine preservation group putting on a display in July and an All Services Parade and Service in September.

There is a baby changing room, toilets and a first aid room in Hut 14, which Michelle said was one of the best she'd seen whilst we were on holiday. Don't try visiting the Mess Huts - they are used for school trips to have their picnics in!
The map and website recommends at least 3 to 4 hours for a visit and I heartily agree that it could be worth spending all day at this location. The group I was with had enough at about the 3 hour mark but the weather played a big part in this.

If the weather had been fine we could possibly have played with Mark on the adventure playground - but this didn't seem to stop the school trip children! Michelle and I didn't let Mark play on this though because he was only 18 months at the time so would have needed careful supervision and we thought it was more suitable to older children

Summary: great day out for all the family