Cyclopark Charity — Attraction in Gravesham

TROLL TOLL BRIDGE...

Sadly writing this review due to negative experience in all my times of going to cyclopark every time I've gone it's been different rules and restrictions....

Queued to take our son out for a bike ride and get him use to his new bike. The foyer was ridiculously busy with traffic and people throwing their bikes around one nearly hitting my toddler in the face in her pram.

We get out to the park and decided to walk across the bridge to have a good look around, no intention of going on any of the other areas ... our child is too young but was nice to give him the opportunity to spectate other cyclists and abilities.

An older male staff member comes walking up and shouts have you paid to go over here to which we reply sorry? You have to pay to walk across the bridge? We just said we were walking not planning on going into the designated areas but the man rudely said you haven't paid at all? And we said we had, we queued up to pay but because we didn't pay to go to the skate park we weren't allowed to cross the bridge. I said I've never been told this before and this is news to me ? He said its health and safety... now I'm thinking you just accused us of not paying as the reason now your saying health and safety ?! As if we are going to put our child in danger but fair enough...

I went back to reception to ask the lady and she said we could cross but if wanted to go in the skate park would have to pay and under 8s only allowed before 11am. Spectators welcome... it's really shocked me the rudeness of this male member of staff and I will think again before returning, a lottery funded project for local community now turning into a profiteering...

After all the positive reviews posted for Cyclopark I was looking forward to taking my family of four including an two young kids for a fun MTB experience. The prices of £3 for a 2hr session as listed on the website seemed reasonable. However when we arrived on the Saturday we were told the cost was £20 for a family of four and the information on the website was incorrect. Not a good start, that is the most we have ever paid at any trail centre we had visited in the uk so far. The trails are basically one blue loop with red and black diversions that link back to the main blue trail. The blue trail was narrow but very rocky which made the going arduous and not much fun - small wheels 14-16" will struggle here. Riding around the centre with cars parked inches away from you made the whole thing seem underwhelming also. The trail had some small up and down elevations and not much else. the red/ black parts had rock features thrown in and nothing more. Worse the route signage was poor and you could end up straying onto a red route or missing a whole chunk of the blue trail in what is already a very short course already. To be honest I wouldn't bring my family back here if it was free, let alone £20. Mountain bikers steer clear. This centre mainly caters properly for the Road bike users and the scooter/bmx crowd. There are some places for kids to play which include wooden structures, slides and a sand pit. I didnt check but I'm sure they'd probably charge extortionate prices if you wanted to use these features alone - I suggest calling to check prices prior to visiting or better still...

PLAY AREA NOT SAFE FOR TODDLERS

Having paid the entrance fee for my 21 month old to play in the sectioned off children's area, I was initially impressed with the facilities and the effort that had been made with the play equipment. However this soon changed when my toddler fell and got entangled in thorny plants that had been planted metres from climbing frames, within the gated area. His face was left bleeding and covered in deep scratches only just missing his eye.

How these sorts of plants could be considered safe in a children's playground is completely beyond me, especially as it isn't clear what they are or how dangerous they are until you are up close to them. Needless to say we raised this with the management expecting them to remove the plants before other children ended up hurting themselves. Unfortunately they refuse to take the incident seriously and maintain there is nothing wrong with having dangerous plants within a children's play area!

So unless you have children that aren't interested in exploring and stick only to paved areas (not any toddler I have ever met!), or are old enough to know to be aware of thorny plants, then I strongly advise you don't take your children here to use the playground. It is only a matter of time before another child hurts himself, hopefully they will take that incident more seriously and do something about the landscaping then. I won't be going back now that I know how little regard they have for...