AD|Press Trip At the weekend we did the Nets Adventure at Black Park and loved it! The Nets Adventure can be enjoyed by even the smallest explorers as this experience has a minimum age of just one and no height restrictions.
What is the Nets Adventure
It’s big bouncy nets up in the treetops linked by a series of net walkways. There are steeper nets to climb up to get you into the treetops, towers to drop down and even a big slide to get you down to the bottom.
They normally have big inflatable balls that bounce across the nets but I presume these have been removed at the moment due to Covid.
What’s it like for Toddlers?
As long as children are aged one and able to walk unaided they are able to take part. You’ll probably find that little ones will still need a lot of help from you, particularly on the steeper nets that get you up there. The guidance on the Go Ape website is that one adult can supervise two under six’s but if you’re doing this for the first time I think you’d struggle with more than one. Ashley needed quite a lot of help to get up the steeper nets at the start and on the walkways where she was a bit more nervous.
We went with a few friends who also had little ones aged 3 and some of them were really confident and running around the nets unaided, whereas others were more scared and needed a lot more help.
What’s it like for Older Kids?
Children over 6 are allowed to do the Nets Adventure on their own, as long as they are supervised from the ground. The big kids were having a great time! A lot of them clearly did it regularly and were flying round the course. One adult can supervise up to five children aged 6-15.
Spectators
There are loads of picnic benches underneath the nets which you can watch from. If it is getting too busy they may only let the number of adults in that are required to supervise, but we didn’t have any problems with this. If all the spectators in your group aren’t allowed in then Black Park itself is beautiful and a lovely place for a walk. There are a couple of places to stop and get a coffee within Black Park too.
Food and Drink
There’s a kiosk within the Nets Adventure area where you can get drinks and snacks.
Best bits: Once Ashley got the hang of it and built her confidence up she absolutely loved running around the larger bouncy nets and was laughing so much! It was great that there were picnic benches underneath to take a break on, as it’s fairly exhausting!
Worst bits: Some of the older kids that were up their on their own were a bit out of control around the little ones so you had to keep watching out for them.
Cost: £20pp – they have an offer running at the moment where you get one free adult place for every under 6.
Tickets: Book on their website – it does get booked up quite far in advance.
Pram friendly: You can take a pram into the area under the nets.
Bike & scooter friendly: Black Park itself is great for bikes and scooters if you want to go round it after/before.
Covid measures: They have limited numbers and introduced one way systems in some parts of the nets.
Location & parking: Black Park Country Park, Black Park Road, Wexham. Parking costs from £2.70 per hour (off peak) for 2 hours.
Sat nav: SL3 6DS
Baby in Bucks Top Tips
I’d recommend booking the 9.30am slot if you can as this is when it’s quietest. This way they’ll be able to get the hang of it whilst the nets are quieter. The last session of the day is also a lot quieter, but this one most likely start off busier and end up quieter. When it’s busy with older kids it can be a bit trickier for little ones as the nets all become a lot wobblier and difficult to walk on.
Download the RingGo App to pay for parking as there are often big queues at the ticket machines in Black Park.
