Bee Wild at Pensthorpe this Half Term

If you are looking for something fun to do locally this half term then why not book yourself tickets to Pensthorpe? They have a totally awesome Bee Wild theme at the moment with a trail for the kids to follow and a fun Bee activity booklet. Plus at the end of the day, not only will your little one get one of the lovely Pensthorpe badges (anyone else got a growing collection?) but they’ll also get a little packet of seeds!

We popped along yesterday, our first big day out since the rules relaxed and had such a great day I got up early this morning so I could write about it straight away.

Now obviously there have been a few changes since we last visited, covid rules and all that, but mostly it was the same Pensthorpe we know and love. So change wise you’ll see lots of hand sanitiser stations dotted around, masks are to be worn inside the hides and distance to be kept, a few areas have a limit on the number of family groups to be in at any time and a couple of the smaller outside areas have one way systems in place. It goes without saying you need to book your tickets and pick an arrival time slot online so they can monitor numbers.

It’s a huge area so I really didn’t notice any of the restrictions making a difference, at no point did we find hides crowded or feel at all uncomfortable and for me that’s a big thing as generally I have felt very on edge about things, my anxiety has been a lot worse recently but I really enjoyed myself yesterday. Even the play area, which I expected to be a problem for me, whilst busy wasn’t overly crowded and there was plenty of space for everyone and always something free for the kid to play on.

Everything else has remained the same, we walked and walked, exploring, playing and watching all the cute goslings. Yesterday was definitely a gosling day! We bought some bird food, it’s always one our favourite treats, getting to feed the birds. The weather was brilliant and it looks like that will stay with us this week, at long last a decent stretch of good weather. We enjoyed finding all the bee clues and it was especially handy as L had been learning all about bees at school this term. You still have to book your slot for the indoor play at Hootz House, only now you do it in advance on the website, not on arrival. We didn’t choose to go in on this visit, purely because of the novelty of the sunshine, we wanted to be outside enjoying it.

It was a great start to the half term, we were there all day, making the most of the extended opening hours! L had a blast, he loved getting to run around and spent a good proportion of the day being a bee himself. We watched birds, squirrels and rabbits from the hides. We even saw a stoat or a weasel, I couldn’t tell, dash out across from us at one point which was rather exciting. We watched lots of little fish in the river and spotted a couple of quite large fish. We really enjoyed finding some cocoons hanging in a tree. It was just such a good day out.

Bee Wild at Pensthorpe is available from Saturday 29^th May to Sunday 6^th June, it includes complimentary activity sheet for children and the rest of their hive, so they can embark upon an un-bee-lievable trail across the park and discover hidden sculptures.

Adult tickets are £12.95, senior (60+) tickets are £11.95 and child tickets (3-16) are £11.95. Alternatively, annual memberships are available for adults at £50, senior (60+) at £45 and children (3-16) at £45, which provide members with unlimited entry into the park and Hootz House for 12 months.