If you are looking for a fun day out for the kids this Summer then I can highly recommend Diggerland Devon as a thoroughly fun and entertaining place that will keep the children occupied throughout the day. I took my daughter age 11 and son age 8 and found they were both of the optimum age to enjoy the majority of rides, even driving solo which was amazing although there was plenty going on for younger ones too!

With four Diggerland parks located across the UK, from Devon to Durham, Yorkshire to Kent there’s somewhere for everyone to visit across the country. With the Devon park just a 70 minute drive for us, we arrived for the 10am opening on a fabulously sunny day.

Top Tip: Don’t forget your suncream if it’s a sunny day as you will be outside for the majority, if not all of you time in the park !

After passing through the Diggerland reception and onto the main park layout we first came across some smaller style but real life diggers that have really fun games attached to them. Providing you are the minimum height even fairly young children can control these and you can sit there playing Hook a Duck, Skittles or search for Buried Treasure.

Here they are playing Dippy Duck,

And when it came to skittles, it was a game of fastest first!

Or if you really want to get stuck in, how about jumping on board a JCB digger and digging up piles and piles of mud! My two both had fun controlling these for a while.

For a bit of fun the family can all enjoy at the same time is the Groundshuttle where you sit in a special carriage on the front of a JCB Teleporter and get bumped and elevated as it drives around an uneven course raising you a little higher every now and again.

The Mini Tractors were an instant hit with my two as they could physically drive these by themselves around the track. Miss M was fairly good but I went in the back of Mister B’s drive and I think he managed to hit every bump along the track, but it was all good fun and they loved being in control of a vehicle.

Joyrider, a Diggerland Police 4WD SUV was an amazing opportunity for the children where they got to sit in the driver’s seat and drive around the small course, twisting and turning their way behind the wheel.

Continuing on the kids self drive theme are the Dumper Trucks which have a good size muddy track to drive around. I have to be honest I was surprised that they are allowed to drive these on their own subject to minimum height restrictions but my 8yr old did brilliantly – I think it’s a fantastic opportunity for them. Even if your child is below the required height or perhaps just a toddler, they can always travel around on your lap so everyone gets a chance to ride around.

Although if you think that looked cool, apparently these JCB Robots are the best! Absolutely awesome to drive over the bumpy, muddy course, these were definitely a winner with my two and I have to say we returned to them many times over the day.

A big highlight of Diggerland is Spindizzy a ride not for the faint hearted as you take a secure seat in the bucket of this digger and get spun around high up in the air. To keep you on your toes it suddenly stops every now and again before starting to spin in the alternative direction.

One of my personal favourites is the Skyshuttle, a JCB that extends 50 feet into the air giving you amazing views across the entire park.

Stack Attack was a fun but challenging ride in which you drive about in your own digger trying to move tyres from one stack to another. This is something my 8yr old, 11yr old and my husband all enjoyed having a go of several times across the day.

What I love about Diggerland is that there is something for everyone, whether your child is younger or older, you know that they can sit on your lap on some rides or depending on height can drive diggers independently which is a pretty cool thing to do.

For the younger guests there are Mini Landrovers which my boy just managed to sneak into being on the borderline height (but he loved them!). Further to that for toddlers is the most amazing Little Tikes area – I have to say I was super impressed with this area, there were far more vehicles than my photo shows but for little ones it’s pretty amazing. On top of that is a sand pit literally packed with little play diggers – for my boy a few years ago this would have been paradise!

As well as the above you have an indoor play area complete with soft play and bouncy slides but we didn’t even venture inside there is so much to do outside which is where my children would rather be.

There is also an extensive outdoor play area with picnic tables and a large grass area, ideal for a lunchtime break from digging!

I’ve left one of the little hidden gems until last – Crazy Carts were in the top 3 rides for my children. They are little electric carts that little whizz across the metal surface allowing you to do crazy spins. My children found them so much fun and we ventured over to them multiple times during the day so that they could have another go, a ride that could easily be missed so if you do go to Diggerland, be sure to check these out!

I think you can tell my children thoroughly enjoyed their day at Diggerland Devon. It is packed with rides that are unique and thoroughly entertaining giving children some fantastic and different opportunities. I also found the park really clean and tidy and being in the countryside it had a peaceful atmosphere. We did get the perfect sunny weather for being there which helped make it a fantastic family day out but it is definitely somewhere that I would recommend visiting with children as I’m sure that would love it as much as my two did!

All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions. We are not paid for reviews although we do receive the product to try out and enable us to write the review.

Diggerland Devon is somewhere I’ve been thinking about taking the children for a while so when the opportunity came up to visit I didn’t hesitate. I never told the children where we were going so after an hour long car trip that morning they were eager to see where we ended up. And what a warm welcome we got as we drove into the carpark!

Mister B was a little shy and stayed in the car but Miss M was keen to jump out and meet Duggy and Dotty, Diggerland’s own mascots that wandered round the theme park all day saying hello and posing for pictures

The park is very well laid out with a simple path to follow round to each of the activities. It is very clean and tidy and you won’t get muddy (as I thought we might), the only mud is on the tracks you drive the diggers through. When the children saw the real JCB diggers lined up in a row their eyes lit up and they couldn’t wait to have a go, to be honest I was incredibly impressed and hadn’t realised that they would actually be able to operate these themselves unaccompanied being only 7 and 4 years old.

The mini diggers were great fun, with three different activities available, digging for gold, dippy ducks where you had to hook the ducks out of the pool and skittles. My children went on these constantly rotating between which activity they did. I have to say the bonus of visiting just after the half term holiday did mean it was pretty quiet meaning we didn’t have to queue for anything!

Miss M was an expert on the skittles as you can see here:

When I saw these giant JCB’s, I never thought Miss M would be able to control one, but she did and she was amazing!! What a fabulous opportunity to be able do this, one of the unique things about this theme park is that most people will never operate a JCB like this in their life, and here is my 7 year old having the time of her life digging up mud!

As an alternative to digging, there are several driving activities that proved a big hit with my two, particularly 4 yr old Mister B who can be shy and has never really attempted driving before (he won’t even ride a bike!). I was a little nervous about him trying a go-kart alone, but I have to say he took to it like a duck to water and was absolutely brilliant. In fact he went on it numerous times over and over, in his words “I loved them”.

There were also mini Landrovers to drive around in a lovely setting which Mister B also loved. Miss M thought they were a little slow and was eager to get back to driving her diggers! lol

The highlight of driving for Miss M was the JCB bobcats! I have to say I went round the thick, deep, muddy track with Mister B on my lap and they weren’t the easiest to control. Miss M however drove one as if she did it everyday. I was honestly stunned at a) a 7yr old controlling one alone and b) how well she managed it! She thoroughly enjoyed herself and it gave her a great introduction to controlling a vehicle by alone (I can see her passing her driving test first time in 10 years time, although I’d expect her too, following in the footsteps of her mummy! Ha Ha!!)

Not only did she drive bobcats, but also dumper trucks and mini tractors. What a fabulous experience for a 7yr old!

In total there were quite a lot of rides and activities to occupy your day including the Ground Shuttle, a ride for multiple people that did figures of eight across the dirt throwing you from side to side. Also a giant JCB which you could ride with supervision and a Landrover which took you on a “Safari” of dirt mountains and “wooden animal” spotting.

The digger swings and Diggerland train also proved a lot of fun!

The Skyshuttle looks a little scary but raises it’s height really steadily and slowly with you being totally secure inside. It does go exceptionally high but the view is quite fascinating and doesn’t feel half as scary as it looks.

The biggest, scariest ride has to be Spin Dizzy! Miss M braved this multiple times with daddy although did drag me on once, which involves sitting in the scoop of a large digger and being spun round in the sky.

I must give a mention to the kids play area which is fabulous, four zipwires to play on plus a super high wooden construction with various slides and shutes coming off to play in. My children loved it and being a grassy area we used this area to have our picnic at lunchtime, leaving the kids to play for a while before heading back to the main digger area.

For us as a family, I have to say we had a super day out, the weather was glorious, and the children went on what they wanted numerous times from 10am when Diggerland opened until 5pm when it shut!! The children were rather pleased with their certificates they received on leaving the site and left with huge smiles on their faces. We certainly made the most of the day out and it proved a bigger hit than we expected!