River Dart Country Park Review

We recently headed to River Dart Country Park for a day out. Here’s what we thought of everything there is to do there.

Visiting River Dart Country Park had been on my family’s days out list for quite a while.

A friend mentioned she was going last summer and I was surprised I’d never heard of it before, especially as so many of our favourite family days out are in this part of Devon.

Visting In May

We decided to wait for some warmer weather so we could make the most of everything the park has to offer, including the outdoor swimming areas.

Originally, we’d planned to visit on the second May bank holiday Monday and booked our tickets the night before. Unfortunately, my husband woke up feeling very unwell with a stomach bug, so we had to cancel our plans.

The ticket system here is a little unusual. We’d booked tickets for May half term, so although they were non-refundable and couldn’t be moved, we could use them on any day during that week.

The same applies to weekday and weekend tickets – you buy them for a particular month and can visit at any time within that period.

While this does offer some flexibility, my husband ended up taking a day off work so our tickets didn’t go to waste, as we already had plans for the rest of the week.

Ideally, we’d have liked to move them to a different weekend in June.

That said, I didn’t actually contact the venue to ask if this would be possible and was just going by the information on the website.

I was also a little worried about it being very busy, as there isn’t a visitor cap for specific days. However, we arrived fairly early and had no problems getting in or finding a parking space.

The day we ended up going was actually my birthday, and we were lucky enough to have glorious sunshine. It was the perfect day for visiting River Dart Country Park, although my husband would probably argue it was a little too warm!

Arriving At River Dart Country Park

As we arrived, we were blown away by the beautiful surroundings. We simply showed our tickets at the check-in desk, and the barrier was lifted for us to head through – it took less than a minute, and there were no queues.

Once we had parked our car, we headed to the toilets before letting the children stretch their legs in the small play area next to the shop and bar.

After the hour-long drive, they were more than ready to burn off some energy, and there was plenty for them to climb on and explore.

Adventure Play Area

Next, we wandered through the beautiful grounds to the main adventure play area.

There is so much to do here, including assault courses, slides, a fort, zip lines, swings, trim trails, and lots of climbing equipment.

Around the outside of the children’s play area, there are also several adult agility challenges if you fancy testing yourself too.

The whole area sits beneath the shade of the trees, with plenty of picnic benches dotted around where adults can relax while the children play.

For younger visitors, there’s Liliput, a play area designed specifically for under-fives.

My three-year-old absolutely loved it here. His favourite was the mini zip line, which has a toddler swing seat, making it suitable even for little ones and something we’d not seen anywhere before.

Almost all of the equipment was well-maintained, and the site was wonderfully clean and tidy with hardly any litter.

The river running behind this area is well fenced off.

There is another river on the opposite side that isn’t fenced, although it isn’t particularly easy to access. Most children will be far too distracted by all the fantastic play equipment, but it’s still worth keeping a close eye on little ones in case they wander off.

Playing At Pirate Ship Lake

After a good couple of hours of playing (and making a decent dent in our picnic), we decided it was time to head to the lake to cool down.

This area is fantastic.

We loved the sandy splash area for toddlers, while the lake is ideal for older children and teenagers.

There’s a wooden pirate ship to explore, a slide and a tyre assault course where you can try to make it across without falling into the water, which is around 70cm deep.

There is some seating around the lake, although I’d definitely recommend arriving early if you want to grab one of the picnic benches.

There is a small shop selling drinks, ice creams, wetsuits and other beach essentials. A special mention has to go to the cashier, who was incredibly friendly and efficient despite the huge forming queue behind us.

There’s also a small climbing frame with a slide in this area. Do be aware that it’s very close to unfenced open water. Although the water is shallow, we still made sure to keep an extra close eye on our youngest while he was playing here.

There are some dedicated changing areas, although they’re very basic and essentially just wooden screening. That said, there are toilets just around the corner, which would offer a little more privacy if needed.

My daughter especially loved this area, and it all felt very clean and safe. If you do visit, I’d definitely recommend taking aqua shoes for swimming in the lake and the nearby pools.

It’s worth mentioning that there are no lifeguards here. Although the water is fairly still and reasonably shallow, it’s always recommended to supervise children closely while they’re playing.

Once we’d finished at the lake, we headed up into the woodland, where there’s another adventure play area.

Into The Woods

The cool shade of the trees was very welcome after returning our swimming things to the car!

Here we found another brilliant obstacle course among the trees, along with a swing and some huge spider-web climbing nets that my children spent ages playing on.

There’s also a lookout tower and a huge slide in this area. After we left, I actually realised we’d missed visiting the nearby ‘secret valley’ area. Something for next time!

Overall Thoughts

Overall, we had such a lovely day. We actually would have liked to stay longer, but we needed to be back home for something that evening, and the M5 was already looking very busy, as it so often is during half terms.

My children are both very keen to go back to River Dart Country Park. My daughter summed our day up perfectly when she said she gave it “a million out of ten.”

The cost was just over £50 for our family of four, including an eight-year-old and a three-year-old (younger children are slightly cheaper- you can check up-to-date pricing here).

We felt it was good value for money considering how much the children enjoyed themselves, although I suspect we’d feel differently if the weather hadn’t been warm enough for swimming.

That said, admission is considerably cheaper during the winter when it’s too cold to use the lake, and we’d happily come back in autumn just for the play equipment.

If we lived closer, I’d definitely be buying an annual pass, but the hour-long drive (more with traffic) means it’s just out of reach for an easy weekend day out for us, which is a shame, as I don’t think there’s anything quite like this close to home.

It’s also worth mentioning that we didn’t take part in any of the paid activities, and there were still some free attractions that we didn’t get around to doing.

What I loved most about our visit was that it simply felt like good, old-fashioned adventure play.

There are no flashy rides or theme park attractions, but my children absolutely loved it anyway.

We definitely plan to return soon for another fantastic family day out!

Know Before You Go – River Dart Country Park

River Dart Country Park also offers touring, camping and B&B accommodation.
The site is cashless.
Tickets are sold as weekday or weekend tickets and are non-refundable, so make sure you book the correct type.
There are areas of fast-flowing open water, so take extra care with young children.
The park opens from 9 am, making it ideal for early risers or for enjoying the attractions before it gets busier.
There’s plenty to do for toddlers, children and teenagers.
Don’t forget to pack your swimwear, aqua shoes, and buckets and spades for the beach.
Food can be purchased on-site, but there are also plenty of areas for a picnic.