bubbles. its the g. its the go. its the goa. its the goat. if ur 3 years old or 69 years of age…read morethis is the place for you. just be careful on the triangles, i smashed my pinkie toe in on them once. kind regards, granny smith

Soft play areas are a necessary evil of having children. Admittedly, they are probably one of the…read moredimensions of hell too dark even for Dante's Inferno. I always leave with a horrific headache after a couple of hours in an enclosed space with the high pitched squeals of sweaty children having far more fun than is good for them. However, the silver lining to these places is the guaranteed time off resulting from the muckle nap small children will need shortly after visiting. It makes that couple of hours all worthwhile and keeps me coming back and happily handing over money. Bubbles Factory is purpose built and a really good soft play. The cafe area is clean, bright and appealing and the soft play area is well maintained and adored by big and small children alike. On this visit I ordered a coffee and empire biscuit for me and a cheese sandwich for puff. It is worth noting that a wait for food is usual but since everything is freshly prepared and there is plenty to distracted impatient children this hasn't ever been an issue for us, even on really busy rainy days. The coffee isn't brilliant, it's a machine rather than proper espresso and they do loose a star for that - proper good coffee would make me much happier here! But the empire biscuit and the cheese sandwich were very good and since puff went on to sleep for a mammoth 3 hours following our visit I'll be going back.

Indoor Adventure Playground for children aged 1-10 years old, juniper jungle is excellent for…read moreyounger kids. It can get very busy at weekends due to parties, but staff operate a maximum child limit so it is never dangerously overcrowded. The food is delicious and the premises are very clean and tidy. Juniper Jungle is the first softplay in Scotland to be awarded the healthy living award by the Scottish Executive There is free car parking and C.C.T.V. monitor key areas within Juniper Jungle. Visitors are booked in and out at reception via a security gate system to stop little ones wandering outside. Baby changing facilities are fitted in all the toilets. Complete party packages are available for any occasion.

This place is absolutely first class for younger kids. Very clean, the staff are very friendly and…read morehelpful and the food is excellent too. I have heard they are supposed to be opening another one in Kilmarnock which would be great if its anywhere near as good as this one!

By far the best soft play area in the town. It is very cheap and is huge. The soft play equipment…read moreused to be Puddle Lane on Botchergate but they relocated it to Denton Holme with a new name, so it has been around for years and is very well loved by myself and my daughter. You can have a children's patrty here which is great value for money and the kids just love it. There is a seating area for the parent's to sit and have a natter and a cuppa and they also sell decent snacks for the children. If your child is younger you have to go in the soft play aswell to look after them which is fab although you are not allowed to bounce on the bouncy castle but you can go down the slides and things. All in all a great place on a wet day or as a special treat.

One of the oldest, but for my money, one of the best soft play areas in Carlisle. The staff are…read morefriendly, and there's a spacious area for parents. The food and drinks are reasonably priced. it has the usual slides, and swings, but has a massive bouncy castle. They do children's parties. Only minor drawback is that if you are driving, it's disc parking roundabout so you could be limited by that.

Great place to take kids, plenty to do when weather is good. Large soft play, large outdoor park…read moreand animals. Open every day except Sundays.

Very fun and good for young kids I'm 14 and still enjoy it till this day and it is very cheapread more

Situated in what appeared to me to be the deserted old fishing town of Maryport (I swear we did not…read moresee a soul on the streets as we drove down to the attraction!) this is quite a small family attraction which kept a group of twenty-somethings entertained for about an hour and a half. Not bad going for the fairly inexpensive entry fee. I do like aquaria, and this one proved to be great fun with the staff very friendly, knowledgeable and entertaining and the exhibits very accessible to adults and the little people (me and children). I loved the ray pool, where feedings, talks and demonstrations are held regularly, and the fish are really friendly and love to be stroked. The cafe was a pleasant enough experience, and good value, though the menu was nothing remarkable, however checking out their website, they now serve thai foodrandomly!

This could be a brilliant place to take the children, but each time i have been there with my…read morechildren, there are older children speed skating and banging in to the non skaters, and its really dangerous. Loads of teenagers, just standing around, so your children need to skate round them, and the staff are just there to chat to their mates. I think it needs a new management team in there to make it more of a pleasure

Brilliant place for kids to go but not very happy they change times and not the web site my…read moregrandchildren travelled by train from carlisle for a day out ,just to be told iceskating had been changed 2-3 when they were there 12-2 like it said on website only had 1 hour on ice long way to go for an hours fun

My husband and I visited the other day and enjoyed it thoroughly what a lovely warm place on a…read morecold windy day too! Even so, it wasn't as hot as I'd expected so our winter jumpers were OK, minus coats of course which we left in the car. The animals and birds are well looked after with lots of space to move about in and seem very healthy and happy. The best experience was the 'animal handling' session there are several per day, the last being at 4.30pm. We were the only people on that occasion and were delighted to 'meet' and hold a corn snake, fat-tailed Gecko and tree frog. Our thanks must go to Kevin who brought the animals to us, explained about their lives and habits, and knowledgeably answered all our questions. He's a real credit to Amazonia. I think the way that this (and other similar) places are advertised under 'kids' activities' is totally wrong because it may put off a lot of adults who would find it totally absorbing and fascinating. Children these days have a tiny attention span and lose interest extremely quickly (as a previous reviewer said). I saw a couple of kids around the age of 8 or 9 chasing each other about and playing hide and seek instead of looking at, and being enchanted by, the animals. Obviously there would be exceptions to this rule and I'm sure some children would get a lot out of this experience. However, I think it should be marketed more for all age groups so that adults with an interest in rainforests and the creatures that live there would be more inclined to go and I am convinced they are the ones who would get the most out of the visit (as we did). There's a little shop where you can buy toys and a few other things. It was disappointing that they don't offer Amazonia T-shirts, mugs, pens or other named merchandise. Our only other gripe is that we found Amazonia difficult to find from the road which runs round Strathclyde Park. The signposts alongside the road are tiny and difficult to read. However, that aside, it was a totally wonderful experience and highly recommended!!

We spent an interesting afternoon here. There are quite a few animals (marmosets, bush babies,…read morebats, snakes and assorted jungle creepy crawlies). But it's quite expensive for the range on offer and it didn't keep 2 kids captivated for more than 45 minutes. There's an extra charge for handling which is also charged to parents even if only the children are handling.

DG One is the new leisure complex in Dumfries. They invested millions in this project and it shows…read more Whilst not quite up to the standard of a private leisure complex, it is far better than any other council facility i've visited. There are 3 pools - including a competition sized pool, a pool where the floor lowers for different classes and a kiddie fun pool. There are also flumes and I think some fancy wave machines. I haven't used the pool so can't give you much more than that, but it looks good and has a great viewing area. The complex also has a gym, dance studio, conference rooms, games halls, cafe, bar and steam room/sauna/jacuzzi area. The gym is fantastic and extremely well equipped. There are all the usual cardio machines and plenty of each to limit having to wait. There are also a huge amount of weight machines which look top spec to me. There is a free weights area too. The gym is clean, well laid out and impressive. There are flat screen tvs dotted about but each cardio machine also has it's on screen where you can watch tv, listen to radio or pull up different stats. Plus, there is a system in place where you can log in to the machines and they will record your workout. There is also little touchscreens on the wall where you can log in and book classes or send messages to a trainer. I think this is awesome for a council gym - especially when you consider the all singing all dancing membership is only £35 a month! DG One also runs a number of classes, of which I have been to Step and Aerobics. The studios are in great condition and are well equipped with an excellent air conditioning system to keep you cool. The instructors are a mixed bunch - i've had good and bad. But, I think this is typical of the council (sorry to say). I have not used the games halls but they look great. These rooms also have retractable seating and are used for concerts and events. Again, I have not visited these but have heard good reports. I have used the meeting rooms at DG One and they are really professional. They have smart boards, good quality seating and can offer catering of tea, coffee biscuits etc. This makes for a good facility but again, the staff can let it down. The guys that set up the rooms and those that book them are great. However, I was disappointed with the catering which was late and disrupted the meeting. The sauna/steam room/Jacuzzi area is also impressive for a council building. Bizarrely this is situated on a different floor to the pool so you can't go from one to the other. This suits me as I don't swim but must be really annoying for those that want to use both. I have been told this is to stop kids getting in and I can see the point. However, it must be so frustrating to go for a swim and have to get dressed to go upstairs only to get undressed again for a sauna etc! I haven't visited the cafe or bar. I have heard good reports on the cafe but have never seen anyone in the bar. Overall, DG One is a fantastic looking complex with great facilities and all reasonably priced. So why a low rating, well. DG One was severely delayed in opening and when it did there were mega problems. So many parts of the complex have been broken, closed, had accidents reported that it has become a bit embarrassing. Only recently, a sign fell on a child's head! Now, I understand any new building will have teething problems but these have been badly dealt with, terribly communicated and often avoidable. As a member, I have never been told of the problems and received no apology. Only when I arrive do I see out of order signs. In addition, the levels of cleanliness at times can be atrocious. I have stopped using the sauna/steam room area after visiting 4 nights in a row and seeing the same mucky marks on the floor. It clearly wasn't even getting a basic clean down! The staff are also a mixed bunch. While those in the gym have always been great to me. Some of the receptionists have no customer service skills and by what i've seen, the cleaners can't be very good. This is typical of a council facility and it is really frustrating. DG One could be fantastic if the staff and the organisation just took a bit of pride in the building and showed it some respect. Unfortunately, I don't think this will happen and I hate to be cynical but I bet it will be in tatters in no time through sheer neglect.

Dumfries has needed something like this for a long time. The swimming pool is sooo much better than…read morewhat we used to have, but could've been better. The competion pool (main pool) could really have done with being much larger, at least 50%. On Saturday mornings the place is crammed. On weekday mornings there is, at the moment, a large area set aside for schools, which is great for them but not for those of us wishing to swim in a straight line without bumping into other swimmers. There have been many teething problems, part of the changing areas have been cordoned off for whatever reason but on the whole its great, especially after what we'd been used to

My four kids really enjoy visiting The Happy Castle…read more It's a soft play/climbing area which is really tall! There's a separated section for tots and a huge 'big kids' section. Parents are encouraged to use the apparatus themselves, which is always fun! The cafe is very reasonably priced and the food is average quality. Thankfully they also sell cheap pitchers of squash (the kids get through loads!).

Absolutely love this zoo, although it's a bit far out it's worth the journey. There is so much more…read moreto see and do here than at Edinburgh zoo. You.are able to get up close to the animals and pet them like we did with the goats and ponies. I loved the bears and watching them play fight was amazing and the parrot say 'come on then'' in a Scottish accent was hilarious and it just seems that the animals here have much more character and are well looked after which is great to see. As well as the animals there is also go karts, trails, beautiful gardens and more and it is such a fantastic day out!

Loved it there great wee furry friends need some pandas tho would be great a also love a slothread more