tried & tested

One of our favourite soft plays to go to is the Bury Lane Fun Barn in Royston, and given the recent summer holidays weather, I was delighted to go along and do a Tried and Tested review of its brilliant (air-conditioned!) indoor soft play and huge beach area outside (double win!).

Open 7 days a week for the summer season, with plenty of free parking, you can purchase a Beach-only or a combined Fun Barn and Beach ticket- the latter giving you access to the Fun Barn for your booked 2-hour session, plus you are free to use the Beach @ Bury Lane before, during and after your session (subject to general opening times)- it’s great value!

Check out their website for all the information on booking your ticket as there are a lot of options.

We arrived a few minutes early for our morning session (which they encourage as people often arrive right on time which can cause big queues), which starts at 9am (there are some benefits to early rising children!) and were the first in to the Fun Barn (which is very convenient for taking pictures and videos for a review, so I’ll remember that one!).

Under 5s

There’s a secure gated area for children under 5 years old with smaller versions of the farmyard-themed soft play you’ll find throughout. With mirrors, a slide, sit-on soft play farm animals and a scarecrow, there’s lots to entertain little ones.

5-10 year olds

The main soft play area is for children aged 5-10 years old. Little ones are allowed on the structure, but they’ll need an adult to supervise them closely as it is a big area with lots to climb and slide down. This is where it was a great move bringing along “Auntie Jen Jen- super godmother” to tag team chasing the toddler and keeping an eye on the 5 year old! 

The main structure is on two levels and is farm-themed throughout with a super fun four lane wavy cow print slide, as well as a tube slide for the adventurous and a wide pink drop slide. There’s so much to explore throughout with biff bags to squeeze through, walkways, a music and role play zone, plus lots of climbing opportunities. A huge plus for me is how clean it all is- the team really does a great job, especially considering children are in and out of the beach area during their session too. In between each play session, the team gives everywhere a clean and it’s ready to go again! This means that you need to vacate quickly at the end of your session, so it can all be cleaned in between.

The café is situated near the entrance, with lots of seating both downstairs and on the upper level, plus more benches outside in the Beach Area. There are also plenty of highchairs and toilet and baby change facilities right beside the soft play area.

A huge benefit of being part of a Farm shop is that the food at Bury Lane is really good, using high quality fresh ingredients throughout their extensive menu. The childrens' choices are great and variable- a favourite being the half sandwich with veg sticks for little ones, which was perfect for my "currently in a really annoying fussy stage" toddler. All food from the Fun Barn kitchen must be ordered during your Fun Barn soft play session if you want to eat inside. We opted to play for the duration of our 2 1/4 hour session, as the kids were inevitably in and out of the soft play and Beach Area, so once our soft play session was over at 11:15, we played out in the Beach Area, then at 11:45 we ordered lunch from the Fun Barn kitchen to eat out on a picnic table in the beach, as they serve it in take-away boxes.

The Beach is set at the back of the site, through double doors from the inside area and is a fully enclosed safe and secure area. There are deck chairs and picnic benches dotted around, plus you’re more than welcome to bring a blanket or towel to really feel like you are at the seaside. For any little train lovers, the trainline runs across the back of The Beach area- my youngest loved watching the trains go by!

As mentioned above, as part of the entrance package to include The Beach, all children aged 2-10 receive tokens each to use on the outside activities, which include the Go Karts, Bungee Trampolines and/or Mini Diggers, so it really is great value to get 2 1/4 hours of soft play, plus unlimited time out on The Beach, including 3 goes on the activities. It’s worth noting the Go Karts and Bungee trampolines are only available at weekends and throughout the week in the summer holidays.

Along with the token activities, there is also a giant chess set, climbing boulder, swings, wooden boat, floor trampolines, beach huts, giant deckchair and large tent which is a great addition to provide shade on hot days.

There’s also a Refreshments wagon out on The Beach selling hot and cold drinks, snacks and ice creams at weekends and during other times, dependent on the weather. The soft serve ice creams were delicious!

All in all, we stayed for over 4 hours and had a great time- only leaving because the toddler was way past his nap time and desperate for a sleep.

It took us less than half an hour to get there from Hitchin (it's just off the A10- some sat navs may try to take you in to the village, so don't leave the A10) and with so much to see and do - as well as the Fun Barn and Beach, the beautiful main Farm Shop has fresh produce, a Gift Hall, Garden Shop and its own Café- it really is a great day and one to add to the list this summer holidays!

The Fun Barn also does parties- with four party rooms and two party food packages, for up to 40 children. You can find the details here.

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