Absolutely horrendous, me, my dad, my brother and his girlfriend all went to this zoo in hopes that…read moreit would be A fun family outing. My mom bought the tickets for the wrong day so she couldn't come with us. We got there and went in, showed the tickets we had bought and weren't allowed in as my mother wasn't with us. My dad stated that she couldn't come with us. The man who was working in the kiosk / ticket booth was having none of it. He was quite the rude man and was telling us that we had to buy new tickets under my dad's name. Keep in mind that the tickets you buy online are NON REFUNDABLE. If I could I'd give zero stars. Absolutely terrible.

Where else meerkats can be seen in Birmingham area? Not the only good reason for visit this…read morefacility but just in case you have ever been there, Birmingham Nature Centre is on Pershore Road, behind the Cannon Hill Park, in Edgbaston. The tickets cost £ 4 (adults) and children from 5 to 15 years (£ 1.50), but the little ones (under 5 years old) have free admission. I have been a couple of times, and a part the cockroaches, it always a pleasant spending some hours contemplating wild life and nature over there. The most popular animals are still the meerkats, but obviously that the wildcats, guinea pigs, among other exotic animals also add to the whole experience. Definitely a children's friendly spot, perfect for a picnic in family, if you fancy bringing your own snack. If not, there is a café on the site. A better way of finding more information about the Nature Centre is visiting their facebook page because their page at Birmingham City Council website is very simple and just provides basic information about the locale.

A great place to let the kids lose for a few hours, very large inside plenty of equipment staff are…read morefriendly.

Brilliant large fun playcenter located not far from one stop shopping center, been taking the kids…read morehere for a few years now and they love it they also have a nursery round back, the food is nice and hot and the staff are friendly. Bathrooms are kept nice and clean. Would highly recomend to anyone who hasnt been before

Definitely not just another play barn!…read more Spread over two stories of an old department store this is a fantastic place to bring the kids. Areas to suit babies, under threes, under fives and upwards! A huge play frame to let the kids loose on and upstairs they can speed around the racetrack on electric go-karts (this costs extra), play air hockey, table football, table tennis or even play on the Wii A great place to eat with hot and cold menus, all freshly prepared in their kitchens. They do kids parties and have four themed rooms (Pirates, Princess, Pitstop and Undersea) for them to eat in before they're let loose on the equipment. A nice family run business, not just another franchised playbarn run by grumpy teenagers!

Our family love this place, with a few exceptions! The things we love are:…read more Loads of places to play. There's an under 5's play area that has a tunnel, play house, play kitchen and a really cool ball pit. Not only that, but there are three slides, climbing frames, padded bits to hit and tunnels to crawl through in the air. The older play bit has a gigantic blue slide that is really fast, as well as a football pitch with netting, two trampolines to bounce away on, and that's just for starters. It is possible to lose your child for a good few minutes amongst the maze of places. They've now also added some little tikes cars to zoom round in (beware of toddler tantrums as there are only three) and a couple of small rides at £1 a go as well as air hockey. For parents, there is a great cafe that stocks a wide range of food from the usual burgers etc to Hipp Organic goodies. I can vouch for the hot chocolate and cakes-very tasty. On the counter at reception are also complimentary newspapers and magazines to read whilst your children go mad, though they have to be returned for others to enjoy after you. It's good value and offers toddler specials on weekday mornings during term time which are £3.50 - £3.65 (including parent/guardian) between Monday-Friday entry between 9.30am and Midday. The bad thigs are: It can get REALLY busy at peak times like after school, during holidays and at weekends and there are usually LOADS of birthday parties going on. Parking at busy times can also be a bit of a nightmare. At peak times it's limited to a 2 hour visit, although I don't see this as a problem. We're usually ready to leave after a couple of hours anyway. All in all though, a great way to spend a couple of hours and for kids to expend some energy.

Toddlers and small children will love this place. In this huge indoor playground small ones can let…read moreoff steam and keep dry at the same time. There are different play areas to suit different ages and tastes. Babies and very small ones can have mum and dad nearby with them in their own low-level area, kitted out with soft-play items, and small slides. Older toddlers and big boys and girls can run riot around the rest of the area clambering, exploring, tumbling, and swinging. The deep ball pool is a great place to hide while someone else tries to seek. Or you could go on a sortie to find foam balls to fire at targets from an air-power cannon. Have a conversation with the Tube-O-Phone, why dontcha? A netted area is set aside for small-scale football matches, and a huge colourful, wavy slide sits against the far wall. Food? A cafe offers snacks and meals, and hot and cold drinks. Skip the healthy options and fill up on chips and baked beans. Active kids need their carbs!

Having visited way too many soft play centres than is reasonably good for my mental health, I have…read morebecome quite the connoisseur. Others like their brandy, or their fine wine, for me, it's soft play. Play Pod is set back from the Stratford Road and can be quite easily missed if you don't know where to look. It's quite close to Shirley Park. Check the website for exact location. It's much smaller than all the other places I've been to. I really like the fact that there is a special section for 18 months and younger. It has a stair gate to the access point and has plenty of soft things to crawl over, plus it includes the ubiquitous ball pit. It's possible to have a coffee (or in my case the usual hot chocolate) and sit right next to the space which allows you to keep an eye and have a little peace. The bigger kids area is lots of fun too, with the usual tower frame allowing the children to go upwards as they play. I have been there for a birthday party and as these things go, it was definitely better than the usual. The birthday pods are nicely decorated and everything is in a good, clean state. The thing I also liked is that after the children have eaten at the party they're not allowed back onto the play area. There's a disco room too. It's not open on Tuesday's or Wednesday's and as ever with these places it can get very busy at peak times like school and bank holidays, when it's open 7 days a week.

Great place to visit for something a bit more interesting for a Saturday out. There's a farm for…read morekids (and big kids) and some quaint little craft and jewellery shop. On arrival this time round there was a woman doing samples of sausages outside the farm shop (the bologonese sausage was delicious). We headed to the antiques shop and picked up three lovely items, of which we managed to haggle a discount and the man helped load things into the car. I have it on good authority the cafe there is lovely, as it's the place my mum stops for lunch on her cycling, and so will be back to try it soon.

I really love this place. There are many quaint little shops and craft shops where you can see…read morepeople at work. A great sweet shop selling Ye Olde Sweets, a cafe, a play park and a small animal village and the farm.a great day out!

a great place for 8's and unders. there are 2 sections one for toddlers and one for the older ones…read more a safe play area and great place to wear the kids out. they have an eating/seating area and food is ok. its loved by my granddaughter and grandson. they offer a playgroup and school sessions along with parties.they take a photo for our membership card. not to be missed well worth a visit. a car park and the 313 bus stop is right outside. its newness can be still felt inside.

this is a great place for kids my kids always enjoy it here its a big place lots of space inside…read more there is a toddler play erea there is a baby erea and a play erea for older children. also there is a football erea they have got computers there for the parents internet access. and you can eat inside on the tables and chairs not sure how much the food is tho but i would say its fair priced. overall this is fun for children

Now, my chap is pretty fox mad (and who can blame him, I thought I was a fan until I met him!) so…read morewhen he was visiting my home county with me, I couldn't resist the British Wildlife experience when I was searching for things to do. Held at Hoo Farm, where entry is included with the price of your experience- win!, you wait by the doors excitedly for the keeper. Anyone who knows me, knows that I am terrible with surprises, receiving or giving, but I managed to to let on to what we were doing until the lady at the desk said so. Thankfully, his inkling had been correct about meeting his furry favourites. The booking system had some issues, and we did wait a little longer than we were supposed to, but our lovely keeper was very apologetic, and made sure we were still having the full time. First, we met Bessie. Bessie is a gorgeous tawny owl, who loves a tickle round the back of her head, and it was pretty amusing watching the keeper to try and fetch her out, even though she entirely loved the fuss once perched on our hands. Two chaps came over, definitely thinking they could get in on the fun with the least subtle hints I've ever seen, not for you today though, guys! Then, the foxes, gorgeous Reds, of course, in all of their little hierarchies, and we got to feed dead chicks to all of the alphas. The platinum and silver foxes were particularly quick, and the silver chap, by the name of druid, scent marked the leg of my other half with a bladder full, which amused me greatly. We were told plenty about the foxes, being provided with tonnes of knowledge. It was a great experience, and wonderful to be with keepers who were so passionate. Definitely recommended.

So, as my reviews normally do, this requires a little bit of background. Some time ago me and my…read morewonderful partner (Dan G.) decided that we weren't going to buy each other many physical gifts for Birthday and Christmas. Instead, we set a budget and decided we would buy each other experiences. To date we have gone to gigs, shows and had days out; but my Birthday gift in March was really special. Dan had managed to find a voucher for a "Predator Experience" day at Hoo Farm with wild Wills Animal Encounters (http://www.willswildanimalencounters.com/) and kept it a secret for over a month. I did eventually guess what the present was (after a few clues), but that didn't detract from the excitement I felt when I woke up on Sunday morning. As I stated on my Hoo Farm review, the venue is only about 45 minutes away from Central Birmingham and is dead easy to get to. We had our experience booked for 1pm, so we enjoyed hanging out with various animals and had our picnic lunch before gathering in the courtyard awaiting our keeper to take us round the animals we were seeing that day. Our keeper was a lovely, bubbly and interesting young lady (who I believe was one of the family who owned the farm). She gathered us together (there are only 4 people allowed on a Predator experience) and took us to the fox enclosure first. After some background about the foxes (they were all rescued from various different places under different circumstances) and giving us some insight into the personality of each different animal, we were invited to glove up and grab a chick to feed the cheekiest fox around, Sparky. Sparky was giving us all begging looks and climbing up our legs to get to the food. Lula the vixen also poked her head in to get some chicks too! Double fox fun! After the foxes, we moved on to the Racoon dogs. After being introduced to Loki, Laufey and Yoshi; we were invited to feed them. In between the feeding they were weaving through our legs, trying to climb our trousers and generally being cheeky and adorable. Honestly, if like me you love cuteness you HAVE to give this a go . Finally (after all the chicks were gone), we were invited to de-glove to go and meet Zeus and Dooma (the Servals). I could write a whole review on how amazing this was, but I have (instead) uploaded a bunch of photos to give you a good idea. Between playing with string, having them sit on our laps and give us kisses and having a good old fuss and a play - this was the highlight of the day. The money for the voucher was worth this experience alone. We got a good 30 minutes to play with these cute, cheeky and affectionate big cats before it was time to take our leave. If you have someone (like me) in your life who loves furry animals, you HAVE to check this out. Its worth EVERY PENNY and you won't be disappointed. A big thank you to all at Hoo Farm and Wild Wills Encounters for a tremendous day out.

A lovely park play centre situated within the main park. With a roundabout, at least two slides,…read moremonkey bars, a sea-saw and an outdoor play gym, it's the place for kids to be on a dry sunny day. An especially pretty place to be in the summer and a short walk to the gorgeous Aston Hall and it's beautiful gardens.

Whoever thought up the idea of this venue was a genius I know it is a family run business and…read morethat's about it. What they have done is taken an area of Tamworth where there was nothing/very little for kids to do and created a little goldmine (not jealous at all that I did not think of it first!!). The unit is in the middle of an Industrial estate and although that sounds odd - its literally walking distance from one of the biggest housing estates in Tamworth. They have transformed the inside spectacularly to accomodate the following; Large softplay/ ball pool for older children with amazing slides and tunnels. Smaller softplay area especially designed for toddlers. Enclosed netted area with goal posts and basketball hoops. large expanse of tables/seating for food. Comfy relaxed seating area with sofas. Specially painted themed party rooms (x3) Various drinks/popcorn/toy machines and a couple of rides for toddlers. Upstairs seating area/vewing gallery. Go kart area. The parties start from £6.50 and there are loads of different packages available depending on whether its a boy/girl. They have a wide range of hot and cold food available( not badly priced - quality just average- service poor). They even do hair cuts!! The environment is bright, stimulating, clean and above all safe. The security there is very good - they have doors that only staff can open to exit the main area. As I have just mentioned the food not outstanding, but other than that a fab place for younger kids to let off steam and run around. I would say its suitable up to about age 9. One other drawback - no licensed bar!!. I was tempted to take off a star for this - but then conceded its designed for kids.

Rainbow World is one of a British institution -- inside play parks, because let's face it, it's too…read morecold for kids to play outside, even in the summer, in the Land of Never Stops Precipitating. The fine folks at Rainbow World bought out a large warehouse on a large industrial estate, and turned it into a play park full of slides, swings, ball pits and fun things to climb around on. There is also a mini go-karting area for £1 extra, with a size limit and minimum, but it's great fun! The prices are a bit high on weekends, but if you stay for a good few hours, it's worth the cash. The lighting is harsh, the decor is twee and it reminds you that once, you had weekends to go to quaint, tasteful cafes, and now spend time freezing on football pitches and drinking lukewarm Nescafe in equally freezing indoor play parks, because a little person calls the shots. Rainbow World can be rented out for children's parties in part or in full. As play parks go, it's not very large (Crash Bang Wallop is much better), but it does get the job done. A nice feature is the small basketball cum football court off to one side, and also a smaller "play grotto" for toddlers and tiny tots. There is food here, but imagine your worst frozen-pub-food nightmare, and that's what you should expect. I'd go for a Slushee, personally. The staff are some of the rudest, least hygienically presented I've ever seen. I've never been smiled at when at Rainbow World. The neat feature of not being able to leave or enter without someone opening the door for you means that staff can see you waiting at the door, roll their eyes and stomp over to open you out without a word. It's all very couth, really. Be warned: there are only about 15 parking spaces, and traffic wardens regularly go around looking for money to be made for the council. All in all, if you're desperate to give your tot something to do in the winter months, Rainbow World is alright, but it's really best avoided.