My friend entered a competition and managed to win four season passes to Camelot theme park which is in Charnock Richard, Chorley in Lancashire. She very kindly decided to give my son and I a pass each so that we could make the most of lots of days out during the season and we recently had our first visit together and so I thought I would write a review on the park.

Getting there

Getting there was pretty easy as we live in Lancashire and so it isn't too far from where we live. We were probably looking at around a twenty five minute drive or so which I think is perfect for a local fun day out. Camelot theme park is a short drive from the M6 too and of course you can use sat nav to find the park as well. The address is as follows:

Camelot Theme Park, Park Hall Road,
Charnock Richard,
Chorley,
PR7 5LP

Opening times

The park opens at ten in the morning but does not open every single day until the month of June. Weekends and school holidays are of course catered for though in the park and the make the most of the fact that people will want days out by opening on these times.

Parking and admittance

Parking is plentiful at Camelot and we were lucky to arrive quite early and thus get a space near to the entrance of the park. There are a lot of free spaces though around the park and so whilst you may need to walk a little to get to the main entrance you are pretty much guaranteed to park somewhere!

Now as we have free passes we obviously didn't need to queue up to purchase tickets and could just walk straight to the gates where someone scanned our free passes and allowed us entry. However, usually you would need to queue up at the castle to purchase your tickets. One thing I will say about Camelot is I think it is a lot of money to get in and so I would advise looking out for two for one vouchers which seem to be floating around or if you think you will visit a few times you should perhaps look in to buying a season pass which can prove to be much better value. What I don't like here is how the cost for adults and children is the same and I would expect at least a few pounds off the adult price for children to be honest.

The standard entrance fees are as follows:

Adult: £28
Child over 1 metre: £28
Child under 1 metre: Free
Family of 4: £85
Season pass: £50 each or family of four for £160

Inside the park

What is nice about Camelot is there are plenty of rides which young children can enjoy. A lot of theme parks cater for the teenage or even adult audience and thankfully Camelot does seem more family orientated but there are a few rides which of course the thrill seekers will enjoy too.

As you enter the park there is a sword inserted in a stone which cannot be pulled out and it is a great photo opportunity for children to have a go at trying to pull it out! The initial area in the park is quite nice and open with a few benches and such like so I guess it may be a nice area to have something to eat.

As you walk through the park the rides are dotted around with a few together and then a small walk to find the next ones which I think works well. The first ride my son and his friend went on was the caterpillar mini rollercoaster and they both loved this as they were able to ride it on their own and so they felt quite grown up. Next we headed to the log flume which I had to ride twice as my son changed his mind about wanting to go on and I have to say we got completely soaked! As it was a gorgeous hot day this wasn't really much of an issue as I didn't look like I had entered a wet t shirt competition for too long! Dotted around there are rides such as the dragon coaster which is one I would advise you do ride with your child as it throws you about a bit and some children have been known to bang their heads when thrown forward and so I like to be able to cushion my sons head on this one. Other rides include carousels, a water slide, pirate ship, ghost train, tea cups, hot air balloons as well as some larger rides which I wouldn't let my son near! There is a smaller area towards the top of the park which features much smaller rides so that even the smaller pre school children can ride on their own making them feel grown up as well which is nice.

As well as the rides Camelot also does a jousting show which I would fully recommend. The show hasn't changed all that much even since the times when I went to Camelot as a teen but it is still well worth a watch as the silly jester entertains you and the knights battle on their horses. The show tends to be shown a few times a day but one of the shows is at lunch time and so the large outdoor jousting arena is a perfect place to sit down and eat your lunch and have a rest. The show may be a bit long for younger children as it does go on for around half an hour or so and can be a bit repetitive at times but my son and his friend did seem to enjoy it the first time we went though are less likely to want to watch it every time we go! During the show inflatables are sold for around three pounds and all the children seem to want one so this is something to be mindful of.

Dotted around the park are various stalls in which you can attempt to win large teddy prizes and this is one of my bug bears with places such as this because of course the children want to have a few go's on these things and it ends up costing you around ten pounds just to get anything worth having. I think in the future I will avoid these and would give my son a few pounds to spend in the gift shop at the end of the day to be honest as I would feel better about that! You can also have your child's face painted, photo taken or buy balloons all for a good few pounds extra and considering the cost of entry it can really become an expensive day out should you take advantage of all of the things there is on offer.

There is also a small farm area within the park in which you can feed the goats for fifty pence. This is only a small area with goats, pigs, some meerkats and small pony's but it is nice to just walk around it briefly as you go along. There is plenty of green grass in the park just to sit on and chill out for a while whilst the children play which is a good send on a hot day I think.

Food and drink

I would advise taking a picnic with you to Camelot where possible because the cost of eating can be quite high there. My friend and I didn't take a picnic as the weather was so hot we were worried it would spoil before we got to eat it and so instead we went to a rollover hot dog stall. A hotdog, fries and a drink cost £7 and so I decided to share one with my son as the hotdog was huge and we knew we would be having ice cream and things around the park anyway. There are various chip stalls, hot dog stalls, ice cream stalls and cafes dotted around but they are expensive as you would expect in a theme park and so a family of four eating would cost quite a lot really.

Overall

It is very easy to spend the day at Camelot theme park because it is a big park and there is a lot to work around as you go. We spent from 10-3 there and only left because it was so hot we were literally drained and exhausted from the day out! Considering that it was a very hot day and was busy in the park the most we queued for a ride was around fifteen minutes tops and I think this is very reasonable. The fact that there are rides for smaller children as well as teens or adults makes it a good choice for a family day out as the older children could even go off on their own for a while in the park and tackle the larger rides at the top end of the park meaning that all of the family are happy.

If we didn't have the season passes I can't say I would visit Camelot more than once a year simply because of the high cost involved. Even with the free passes it cost my friend and I £50 each for the day out including petrol, lunch, games in the park and we also went out for tea afterwards and so it is not cheap. I would recommend buying a pass as opposed to buying individual tickets if you wanted to visit more than once though as this proves much better value.

Thank you for reading my review!