World of Country Life — Attraction in East Devon

We visited on a Tuesday during school summer holidays.

On arrival (around 1030) we were greeted by a full car park, but we just managed to squeeze in somewhere. After this, there was an entry queue snaking around the car park. Not very safe as much of it isn't behind any kind of barrier. It took around 30 minutes to gain entry, even though we'd booked and paid online in advance.

On entry we were asked if we wanted to pay extra to go on the deer Safari train, at a cost of £2pp. Whilst an extra cost it does include food (1 pot per 2 people) to feed the sheep and deer. The experience lasts around 15-20 mins, and when we entered the park at around 11am, the earliest available train was 1530. If you're going to visit and plan to use this attraction, you may want to check what your train ride may clash with - for us it was one of the birds of prey shows, something we didn't know until after we'd got in.

Given the time we eventually got in, we went straight to the small animal handling experience, something our children really enjoyed. It was so busy the staff opened up a second location to allow more kids the opportunity to handle the animals - really nice to see so that no one was disappointed. On show today were rabbits, guinea pigs, gerbils and stick insects. Children weren't hurried at all and staff seemed friendly.

After this we went straight for lunch. Here was our second horrendous queue of the day - it took around 45 minutes to place an order because the main restaurant only has one till. The food, in fairness, was served promptly after this, was good and reasonably priced. Just a shame about the wait. We missed one of the birds of prey shows because it took so long, unfortunately.

After this we visited various other parts of the park, all of which were enjoyable, including the pirate ship, crazy golf (another extra charge), the remote control boats (additional charge for a very short go) and some of the play areas.

In short I think we had a great day, but we simply ran out of time. There's plenty to do, but we didn't get round it all partly because we arrived at a busy time but also because of the ridiculously long queues at two key junctures in the day. I would expect an attraction of this size to be much better equipped to deal with the volume of customers they attract.

The customer experience could easily be improved massively by making some simple changes for example, by having more than 2/3 tills admitting people. Or, enhance the online booking to allow you to book the deer Safari at the same time as the entry tickets and put in a fast track line for people who already have their tickets.

Furthermore, at the main restaurant, having just one till taking orders is criminal. Allow people to order via a website or app at least, if you're not going to put more ordering points in.

If I was in the area again I would visit again, but I'd plan the time differently to make more of our time there. Top tip - take a picnic as there are plenty of benches and it'll save you a heap of time! If you're managing to a budget, pay close attention to the map as they do show you what costs extra once...

I witnessed a woman crying with laughter over her darling boys rolling about in sand and water at the bottom of a bounce thingy- you know the ones, like great big pillows where you take your shoes off and go wild. Practically rolling she was as her offspring disobeyed her halfhearted requests to stop. Screaming and hitting, hissing and spitting their displeasure. Clearly a well rehearsed routine. How she chuckled, until; soaked to the bone it wasn’t so fun anymore and Mummy had to take her poor little pickles off to get changed. Anyway, fast forward 20 minutes and the same two sociopaths in training are kicking their mother’s shins in the queue for food, demanding candy dummies and ice cream. The mother negotiated them down to just ice cream if they promised to be good. Of course, mini Ronnie and Reggie aren’t happy with these terms. Suddenly, a very kind hearted man appeared from the kitchen behind the counter and asked Bill and Ben what the matter was- cue waterworks. Any shred of sympathy I might have had for the mother evaporated as she proceeded to explain (lie) about how upset they were about the mucky environment (it’s a farm, and a clean one!) and that the bouncer should be cordoned off as it was dangerous and how she had to trudge her poor, traumatised lambs to the car to get changed. Well, on hearing this the customer service kicked into overdrive! The kind man took them Straight to the front of the queue. “What would you like, it’s on the house!” The order increased from the ice cream and dummies (of course they got them) to cheesy chips, drinks and some other similar foods to stuff in tweedle dumb and tweedle dee’s traps. Meanwhile, my perfectly behaved children watched this unfold: the preferential treatment for terrible behaviour. But that’s ok. This is just excellent customer service and there is a lesson to be learned! When you visit, and it really is a lovely place, and a great day out, don’t be respectful or well behaved: be awful. Really encourage your children to be as disgusting as possible and you’ll get free stuff! We’re going back tomorrow, hopefully if my kids can destroy something expensive and maybe roll about in the animal droppings, we’ll get given free lunch and half...

I had a brilliant day here yesterday with my family. There is so much to do for all ages. All of the animals were so friendly and well looked after. The deer ride was a lovely added extra at a very reasonable price. The indoor play areas were a real hit with the children in our party. For a Saturday, the park seemed very quiet which was nice because it made us feel more comfortable, given the current covid situation.

With leaving such a positive review, I must justify the drop of a star on the rating. That is for our experience at the ice cream kiosk next to the indoor pirate ship play area. The staff there seemed very unorganised and one barely spoke at all. They just passed us ice creams without saying anything.

The one star is also for the staff running the bird show. There was an incident yesterday where they asked someone to leave and the whole situation was handled in completely the wrong way. I can understand that everyone is asked to stay seated for their safety but surely had that child started screaming because they needed the toilet, that would have caused even more trouble. The bird was not in flight at the time. He/she was being held on his perch by the other handler. The way both members of staff spoke to the man was very rude. I think the lady member of staff had a bee in her bonnet before the show even began because she was very rude to other customers too. Her tone of voice was not very welcoming. I feel that the staff at the bird show and on the ice cream kiosk could benefit from some more training in customer service.

I only dropped one star because the day itself, minus those two things, was great. Just a shame a few things let you down. They can be fixed though. We will be visiting again but we’ll take a rain check on the...