Lee Valley Animal Adventure Park — Attraction in Epping Forest

Just got home. I only arrived at the park a few hours ago. Left after less than 2 hours most of which was just sitting on the grass because I didn't want to leave early after spending 20 pounds on entry. Not easy to navigate with a pram. Very hilly. I'm a single mum and spent 20 pound on a day out which doesn't happen often due to low funds. I am so disappointed! I walked all the way down the bottom of the hill past the donkey/horse field as I could see pens down there. But once I got there, the pens were empty, so then had to push the pram back up the steep hill after not seeing any animals. A lot of the animal pens were closed. We watched the toddler fest show which was three people dressed in dungarees singing songs etc. Tbf the older kids seemed to enjoy that. The foam party looked good but it wasn't warm enough for my little one to go in today. Meet the meerkat - I stupidly thought it was a real meerkat, it's not it's a person in a meerkat suit. The kids go on the stage to get a high five and a picture. My little boy didn't go up because I couldn't trust he wouldn't fling himself off the stage while I stood back to take a pic. The bouncy pillow... Looked really fun, except the flooring around it is awful! It's like wood chippings but dyed black. All the kids clothes were completely ruined and they were all smothered in tar looking black stuff. My little boys tracksuit is going to have to go in the bin - it's literally covered in black chalk charcoal looking stuff. The absolute worst part for me.... There's meant to be an ice cream parlour that opens at 12 which is where the animals/main stage are. I sat there from 12 till 12.30 waiting for it to open and it didn't. I then went and had a walk around to kill some time and come back about an hour later. It was still shut. This meant there was nowhere at all to get any food/drink at all whilst in the park. The only place to get any food or drink is at the entrance to the park where the cafe is. I wasn't going to haul my pram back down all the hills to the cafe to then go back up again to the main stage/animals which was pretty rubbish anyway. I'm breastfeeding and was on the verge of fainting due to being so hungry so I just had to go. I have been here before, a few years ago and remembered the ice cream parlour so didn't think to bring myself food or drink because I knew they had a food place inside. If they would have said at reception when we signed in that the ice-cream shop was closed, I would have got food at the cafe before I went in, but they didn't so i went the whole time without a drink or a snack - if you've ever breastfed, you know this is pretty hard going. If this day out was free, I don't think I'd go back with a child under 3 because it was just very boring and not much happening and very hard work to get the pram around. I was worn out by the time I got in the car by the amount of pushing uphill I'd done. I paid just over 20 pounds to come here for two hours today with my 1 year old. Last month I spent the whole day at Hertfordshire Zoo, which is not far from here, where we had an amazing day, and that cost me 26 pound! It's very very over priced and not very good at all. Shame because when I came a few years back with my friends son, it seemed a lot better. Pros - big outdoor playgrounds for older children. The enclosures were big which is always nice to see animals in suitable enclosures. Really gutted I wasted money going here today. If it was 5 pound entry and my child was over 3 and I was prepared with food and drink and didn't need to bring a pram.. I might think about returning, but definitely not at the...

We came away from Lea Valley Animal Adventure Park £50 poorer and completely dumbfounded by the whole experience. We came as a family of 4, 2 adults 2 children.

Arrived at 2pm, greeted by reception lady and then entered the farm. The children quickly ran to the animal enclosures to find the animals fat, lonely and depressed. The fact that there were only a small handful of animals was greatly concerning for a 'farm'.

We then walked around and found the area looked derelict and dirty. The bouncy castles were filthy, the ride on toys looked like they were found in a junkyard, there were children running around naked and barefoot with the people that worked there not even asking them to put clothes on to go down slides or climbing frames (these children were at least 7 years old). Mind you, there was bits of bark and woodchip everywhere - easy splinters. There was one tea cup ride and one swan ride, only the tea cup ride was working and even then the person navigating it spun all the other tea cups but not mine or my husbands until my daughter very loudly said this is boring. The only saving grace was mini golf - but that does not justify £50.

We have been to many great farms, this place holds nothing to them. Extremely disappointed in not only the lack of care of the animals and the area around, but also the attitude of some people that work there to people of colour.

We left after less than an hour, so disappointed that we gave our money to this 'farm' when we could have supported a local farm to us. Never again! I would highly recommend you visit Wellgate Community Farm or Foxburrows Farm and donate to them instead. If you would like a children's play park area attached to a farm/zoo then Battersea Park Children's...

We visit quite a few animal places, zoos, farms etc this was our first visit here. On the downside … I need a mobility scooter to get about and although many of the paths were accessible, the cobblestones in one area almost shook the wheels off, it was very, very uncomfortable! I couldn't risk going back over them, so had to get my husband to move the scooter back over it when we left! Some of the slopes were challenging and many paths didn't have enough plastic on them for me to get across. I couldn't get very close to the adventure playground or the bouncing pillows, which meant my husband had to take our granddaughter to them and I had to watch from a bit further away. There weren't as many animals as we expected, and I'm sure they have bigger paddock's outside of opening times, but the ponies didn't seem very engaged, it was a hot day, so that could account for it. The goats seemed a bit crowded and the pen with the meerkats seemed a bit small. On the plus side (ish)… The little shows were fun (although again, not easy to get close to on the scooter) but they could've been a bit longer. The golf looked fun, the Lego tent was a hit (I didn't get to that) the adventure playground and bouncing pillows were probably our granddaughters favourite bit, but we had hoped that wouldn't be the highlight of the day! The staff we encountered all seemed very friendly...