Having heard nothing but good things about Oakwood we decided to take the 5 hour journey to south wales in the summer of 2006. We visited for the weekend leaving on Friday afternoon with the intention of visiting Oakwood on the Satrurday and Folly Farm on the Sunday. We stayed just outside Tenby in a Travel Lodge which was central to both attractions and cheap.

Unfortunately for us and other visitors to Oakwood this was the wettest day of the year by far and we ended up completely soaked through to the skin within about 1 hour of arriving at the park and we still had another 9 hours until the park was closed.

For anyone with an interest in vintage fairground rides a trip to Folly Farm is really a must. Not only is the farm packed with Animals it also houses the UK largest indoor traditional fun fair. The rides date back to the 1920′s and have all been lovingly restored and updated at the farm to meet current health and safety requirements.
Folly Farm is located in Pembrokeshire a short journey from Tenby and about 30 minutes drive from Oakwood.This article takes a quick look at some of the stunning attractions on offer at the farm and also looks at some of the history behind certain rides. I have got some of the history from a souvenir guide written by Brian Steptoe a leading fairground historian and the author of 2 books on the subject.

All the photographs are taken by me, but unfortunately I forgot to take a tripod, hence some of the pictures may be a little dark or over exposed. one problem with old fairground rides and the vast amount of lights is they play havoc with modern digital camera sensors ok so thats my excuse.

Lightwater valley theme park is located in North Yorkshire just of the A1 near Ripon. The park has to be one of the easiest parks to get to in terms of location as its motorway most of the way.

Its been a few years since my last visit and having seen some TV ads recently, I got the impression the park has bought a few more attractions so it was definately worth the 2 hour drive from Cheshire to see what has changed.

Date of Visit : 22nd October 2006, Party Size : 2 Adults, 2 Children, Cost of entry with a Bird of prey show £64.00. if you plan on visiting the bird of prey center I recommend buying your ticket with the theme park entrance to save money as its only £1.50 each with a park ticket.
Admission.

After getting parked up on a slightly muddy car park (bearing in mind this is October) we made our way over to the main entrance, if you dont already know the lightwater site also has some decent factory outlet shops as well as a bird of prey center on the premises. These are located just before you enter the main park. You can visit at anytime after getting a luminous stamp put on your right hand for easy access from the park to the retail outlets. On our way over to the main entrance we are greeted by a very friendly clown who makes a fuss of the kids and informs us about his upcoming magic show later on in the day.
On entering the main entrance only 2 of the kiosks were open which at the time was plenty as there was only us queueing up, after getting the tickets you make your way through a turnstile (bloke on a stool) and into the park.