Lappa Valley — Attraction in St. Newlyn East

This is a brilliantly charming and delightful tourist attraction in the Cornish Countryside near Newquay with an array of engaging things to do for families. The size is fairly vast and keeps families entertained for hours and to access to the main area of the site is boarding the train depending on the day could be either steam or diesel from the ticket office near the car park up to the Engine Shed on the main railway line. The ride up from Benny Halt near the ticket office up to The Engine Shed provides a lovely relaxing peaceful ride where you take in the spectacular picturesque surroundings of the beautiful rolling valleys and countryside. Once you in the heart of the site near the Engine Shed you're literally spoilt for things to do and the range of things is simply amazing and very diverse and these include rides on the Newlyn Downs Branchline, rides on the Lakeside Railway, Ride on the Pedalo Swans on the Lake, Woodland Walks, Adventure Play, The Lappa Valley Story and the Engine Shed and of these activities are fun and engaging for everyone. The Woodland Walks are open between March and October and provide a lovely relaxing 10-15 minute walk to the top of the valley where you can see the Picturesque scenery of the surrounding Woodland and train line and you have the choice once you reach the top to board a train to get back down the valley or walk and at the top of the valley there is an adventure playground for the children to enjoy. The Lakeside Railway is a lovely circuit around a small pond on an electric train and is great fun and the Newlyn Downs Branchline is a Railway line to the top of the valley which is a great picturesque journey on a either a diesel or steam train and runs at various times throughout the day. The site is also a former lead mine and you see the remnants of the mine buildings at the heart of the site with East Wheal Rose and there is some interesting displays about their history and use during the time of the mine. The Pedalo Swan are a great interactive ride across the lakes for families and the Engine Shed is a large indoor soft play and a great place for the children to unwind and have fun. The other great activities include the Musical Walk, Adventure Golf and Frisbee Golf where the Frisbees can be obtained from the Gift Shop. The steam locomotives that visitors can enjoy a ride are Zebedee, Ellie, Ruby and Muffin and the Diesel Locomotives that people can enjoy a ride on are City of Derby, The Duke, City of Truro and Eric and all of these locomotives are in great condition. There is a gift shop selling a variety of souvenirs at reasonable prices and also a cafe selling a range of food and drink at affordable reasonable prices. Overall this is a spectacular, amazing, fun and engaging place to visit and makes for a brilliant, memorable and great day put. Well worth a visit whilst in the Newquay area...

If you have children younger than about 10, they will absolutely LOVE Lappa valley. Older children may lose interest after a few hours, but as theyre normally plugged into the Internet or some form of entertainment system, probably not an issue.

As we read on a few reviews, the staff definitely are Lappa's greatest asset and were absolutely brilliant. We visited on 9th May and there were plenty of staff on (other places we visited still hadnt 'ramped-up' it seemed) From the second we arrived we got a lovely greeting from the ticket office chap, who once wed been outside, playing on the very well placed play equipment, whilst waiting to board the train from car park to main area, the ticket officer comes out to wave the train off, all the kids loved it. The train 'tooted' plenty of times on the way up, which helped to get the kids excited. When we pulled into the main area there were several staff lined up to welcome us and again waved as we pulled up. The new building which is a cafe and a softplay area is brilliant, the soft play has two seperate areas for under 12's and under 5's, both are huge and almost as big as some sole-purpose establishments we have local to us. The staff were happy, as it was quiet, for us to take our son in the older childrens section, which we did, hes only 2 and managed to climb all of it and loved both the slides (hes pretty brave for his age). The tea and cakes are lovely. The smallest guage train (7.25") is a sit on type, the driver was brilliant and told us all we had to yell through the tunnel and around the lake to keep the sharks away, the kids LOVED IT. He also toots near the play area and going past the station, so everyone waves to each other, again the kids love it (and the adults). The woodland walk is lovely as is the third train up to it. The play field at the top (accessed via third train line or by 10 min walk) has some climbing equipment, a slide and some football nets. Plenty of benches to eat a packed lunch if...

We've always dismissed this place for some strange reason in the past but we decided to try here for the first time this year and we don't regret it one bit. Basically if you're going then go early and go for the day. The entrance is just a ticket office and shop and play area. This is the first stage and you get a small train from there up to the main area where everything else is, the train ride is maybe 5-10 minutes and not on the same site at all. We were the first visitors of the day and the staff were waiting at the next stage for us all to arrive. There is another small shop to get gifts and ice cream. There is a small shallow boating lake with kayaks and peddalos on. There is a mini golf and trampolines. Play areas and plenty of space to walk and eat food. There is a small cafe for food and drinks and a separate ice cream shop. All the activities are included in the price of your entrance and you can go on any train or do any activity as much as you like during your stay. From this area there is another train ride you can take further north but it's only 5 minutes and takes you to a play area and there is a small paddling stream for the kids. You can either get the train back or take a 15 minute walk through the woods back. In the main area too there is another train which takes a small circular route round the pond and takes 5 minutes, the drivers always encourage the kids to scream through the tunnel and they have a ball on that train. Again you can take the kids on this as many times as they want for free. We spent most of the day here, first ones to arrive and we got the 3rd to last train back to the entrance. It was very good fun for us all and the kids really enjoyed themselves. The only criticism I have is the small indoor play area for toddlers, this needs updating and some tlc as it was pretty poor. We will be going back again next year definitely and look forward...