Devon Railway Centre — Attraction in Mid Devon

Only went to the centre as thought it would waste a morning, didn't look particularly big and didn't want to do anything excessive due to the current high heat and an ill elderly father with us. Arrived at 10:30, as it opened, and ended up leaving at 15:45. So quite a gentle relaxed day spent there instead of a quick visit, so got our moneys worth, and its fairly inexpensive too.

You can ride two miniature railway lines for 2 different gauges, both run virtually parallel to one another so you do really only see the same sights on them.

Two sets of carriages on rails that you can go in, one with a more historical slant with information about GWR and how the site came to be, the other with several different model railways. The model railway carriages were a bit hot and portable air con units had been set up, but really were only much help when you were standing directly infront of them. Not really much of an issue but it was 31° today so we weren't hanging around in each carriage for too long before moving on.

There was a decently sized model village, not the best made I've seen before but plenty to see and the added buttons to press that played music or animated elements was enjoyable, especially for my 4 year old.

There were two pay as you go electric car areas, one that looked like vans and another more akin to bumper cars (with a sign saying don't bump!). Fun while it lasted, but, the areas for the bumper cars was small, and three of them in the small boxed area so it wasn't much room to play.

Soft play area was good, a sign to say it was closed twice a day for cleaning due to COVID, so, nice to see they are continuing that.

On the COVID front, everyone's asked to wear masks in the indoor areas, not needed outside now, while all staff members seen still wore theirs. Hand sanitising stations seen throughout too. There were arrows showing direction of travel through the site, but we were told on arriving that no longer in use.

You have to prebook, and we did easily enough on their website the day before, and only paid on the actual day. So I thought that was a plus as if something pops up and you can't attend anymore you're not losing your money or going through the hassle in getting it back.

I do find one draw back about the whole site, is its a little bit dated. The crazy golf seems to have been built with what ever was to hand, and is quite bumpy, so don't think you'll get yourself a hole in one! So just feels like its deteriorated over time.

While the aforementioned electric cars are squeezed into a small space, almost like feeling up the room to make do.

Two small playground areas (that we saw) with climbing frame and slides that broke up the walk around as the 4 year old had some fun with those.

Lunch was nice, ordered and served in the old station house. You could get hot baguettes, jacket potatoes, pasties, basic stuff, all reasonably priced when you compare todays prices. Can of coke was £1.20, and think we paid £14 something for two cheese & ham baguettes, with side salad and handful of crisps, and two cokes.

Overall, really enjoyed the day. If it wasn't as hot, with more people, think it may have been less enjoyable as the size of the place, as said, isn't big enough to accommodate bigger crowds and could see queuing for long times for the train rides a pain and electric cars a pain. The theme of the place is that they seem to have crammed a lot in to a small area.

A fun day....

Spectacular family attraction dedicated to trains and all things linked to the railway and also appeals to children and adults alike and is also very enjoyable. There are two railways at the site which are the Narrow Gauge Railway and the Miniature Railway both of which are great fun to ride and see other parts of the beautiful site. The Narrow Gauge Railway visitors are ridden along by an old small diesel train and the Railway journey takes you to the far end of the site stopping off at Bridge End Station or Riverside Halt Station where you the children can go the adventure playground and the adults can relax and can view and marvel at the Old Railway Bridge after stopping at The Bridge End Stop and after stopping at the Riverside Halt Station visitors can view the Wildlife area where they may be able to spot a Rabbit or a Fox. The attraction uses some very interesting names for the trains used on the Narrow Gauge Railway such as Ivor, Fred, Rebecca and Sir Tim amongst other and all of which are colourful and in very good pristine condition showing the dedication by the staff to maintain them in immaculate and good working order. The Miniature Railway is a smaller train and takes visitors through the Magic Wood where you can view the Gnome Model Village and all the Gnomes which have been wonderful crafted and presented very well in an imaginative and colourful way. On both the Narrow Gauge Railway and Miniature Railway visitors can enjoy unlimited rides all of which is included in the admission price and also included in the admission price is the Model Railway and the Model Village, Museum, Model Funfair, Indoor and Outdoor Play areas for the Children and also the Crazy Golf which is reasonable and represents good value for Money. The price for adults is £12, Children £11 and Family Ticket is £53 for up 2 adults and 3 Children. Both The Model Funfair and the Model Village which incorporates Beckie Tin Mine and Exe Vale are brilliantly presented and laid out in great detail full of charm and character. There are buttons to press for the children in the Model Village to show different objects moving and show how they work, which is really fun and interactive for the children. The Model Railways is one of the main carriages is spectacularly constructed and presented very well with great attention to detail paid. Again children can press buttons on the Model Railway to get the Model trains working and moving making it very and interesting for them. Other fun an Interactive activities for the Children are the Space Orbiters, Drive Your Own Cars and the Indoor and Outdoor Play areas. The Crazy Golf is great engaging and interactive fun for the family. The museum in another of the Carriages is very interesting and informative detailing the history of the attraction how it started and how it developed to where it is now along with where the trains have sourced from and how they sourced along with a little history of them which is also fun and interesting. Also the Museum there is an interesting 7 minute film again talking about the history of the site. There is a small gift shop selling souvenirs at reasonable prices and also the Buffers Tea Room offers a nice variety of food at decent affordable prices. Overall this is a fun, enjoyable and interactive place to visit and one that families will definitely find interesting and love. Definitely worth a visit...

Lovely friendly staff, family ran attraction.

Parking could be slightly clearer and is shared with the public when parking beyond under the bridge. Plentiful on day of visit and free. Fast tractors coming through the car park cutting silage in field behind - far too fast considering young children around which is not a criticism of the railway centre of course.

No queue to get in & bought tickets on gate where there is a little shop selling toys, books & sweets. Reasonable prices and entry fees considering what was on offer.

Cafe serving hot drinks, baguettes, jacket potatoes, cream tea, cakes, ice creams etc. observed some GF and plant based options. Overall nothing we got excited about but does the job!

Loads to explore for little ones, better maybe for under 10’s. Play carriage had a ball pit, sand pit, large Brio play areas. Moving ride ons outside need some extra coins from £1 to 50p but happy to pay as they need upkeep and stops queues etc. Two play areas with climbing frames and three varying slides, one area is next to the outdoor seating by the cafe & another as you go in next to picnic benches.

The model railway world was incredible with lots of buttons to initiate movement. Very well maintained!

Quiz and trail options as you go around.

Mini crazy golf was a hit also, nice not to have extra faff of paying for clubs/balls for this & is also next to cafe.

Two train rides which were fun, one electric smaller one and one diesel engine larger one. These were both just long enough so little ones don’t want to jump off but also realise they’re on a train ride unlike maybe a traditional full size heritage railway where you can’t see the train itself. Gnome world was fun to look at on our way around and there’s a stop off point on the ride next to the river with small climbing frame, picnic bench & grassed area.

Soft play could maybe do with a bit more lighting and was unsupervised but didn’t matter when we were there, it was clean (on the inside bits that you use) and had two age appropriate sections & music which helped detract from the fact it was in an old railway building (with exposed damp walls)…Some may enjoy this! Train theme nonetheless.

Was very quiet when we visited on a Sat in October and half the park was empty so no queues anywhere and nice to go around at our own pace, staff happy to stop and chat too.

After 4hours we had to be thrown out! Didn’t make it to the museum or model railway carriage so will have to revisit.

Overall a brilliant day with plenty of train...