Foxley Wood and Dinosaur Adventure Park (not)

Ally worked until 12pm last night (from 8am), so to take her mind off the wrinklies kicking buckets left right and centre (3 in total died over Christmas) at Hethersett Hall, I thought we could take a drive around and find somewhere interesting to go to.
Bury St Edmunds was my first thought but then decided that walking around a pile of old stones at the Abbey might be a tad boring.  The weather is lovely today but still a bit chilly for the seaside, so the next idea was to go to a Forest/Wood - somewhere we hadn't been to before.  The largest area of ancient woodland in Norfolk is situated at Foxley, so it seemed like a good idea to head out there.   Ally paid for snacks and tasty treats, we plugged in the Satnav and off we went.

It was very wet underfoot and almost felt like we were trudging through a marsh, so after a few minutes we decided to go back to the car, have our picnic lunch and maybe head out to the Dinosaur Park, which we'd passed on our way to Foxley. 

 The Triceratops at the entrance to the parking area.

 Ewan, the dinosaur expert, was at great pains to point out that this is NOT a ka-ka (er pteradactyl to us mortals) this is, in fact, a Pterosaur ...

'No Nana, this is NOT a Diplodocus, it's an Apatosaurus (sometimes called a Brontosaurus'.   5 years old and speaks like a qualified Paleontologist already.

I've spoken to a lot of mums at Ewan and Faye's schools and asked about the Dino Park and whether they think it's worth a visit.  Most of them have said yes but I am starting to wonder what the Brits think is a bargain/good value for money.   Yes, it's situated in lovely grounds (the deer are in an enclosure to the right as you enter the park property).  I've been to the Dino Park website and looked at the park layout and amenities.   We got there at about twenty to one (so already half the day had gone by).  They wanted to charge 8 pounds for Ally, 10 pounds for me (why? I'm over 60, should get discount surely!), and 13 pounds each for the children - so 44 pounds in total for maybe one to two hours there. 

When you consider that Sudwala Dinosaur Park would have cost us about R190 (or 10 pounds for all of us), to get in (alright we'd have to drive for five hours, or at least be staying in Nelspruit!) ... it kinda makes you think that the Dinosaur Park near Foxley is a bit of a rip off. 

So needless to say, we just drove in to the grounds, took a couple of photos and came away.  I don't think Ewan was too disappointed, maybe we'll go back in the summer (but I'm not holding my breath).