We took a trip to Pinewood Activity Centre in Wokingham on Saturday morning. A place I have often driven past but never visited. It’s quite hidden among trees and sits among 18 acres of woodland but no prebooking is required, there’s a lot on offer and even better, its free!
Its not far from The Look Out Discovery Centre in Bracknell
To the left of the car park are football pitches often with football matches at the weekend. These football pitches belong to the club and aren’t for public use. To the right are the kids play areas.
The centre offers a lot of activities and has ample free parking. There are a number of buildings and huts surrounding the car park including a café, toilets and nursery school.
We were delighted to discover that there were two play parks. One was yellow gated and aimed at slightly younger children. It is adjacent to the child’s nursery school. This was the one my youngest headed for having spotted the colourful play on train with pretend train track, a slide built in to a hill, swings and climbing apparatus.
We went on a Saturday morning around 11 and had the place to ourselves, however, there was plenty of space to run around and social distance should there have been other families with us.
From this park you can spot the miniature railway train. A very cute ride on train which meanders through woodland for about ½ a mile. It has been around for over 25 years and normally runs on the 3rd Sunday of every month. It has been closed due to covid though. Something we will certainly be heading back to visit once we get confirmation its back open. It should be running again this summer. They do have a separate website which can be accessed for updates
Photo Credit: Stewart Turkington 07778 334771
The wooden adventure playground “Pinewood Adventure” was also very popular with my boys. It had something for both their ages. From a long zip line to a covered tunnel and challenging obstacle course.
This area was more sheltered by trees so great if you’re looking for somewhere shaded on a hot day. The boys had a great time exploring what was on offer here and again offered a lot of space for outdoor play.
After the parks we decided to have a stroll through the woodland. There are a variety of paths you can take to explore this area but we headed to the right of the adventure play park which takes you round the back of the centre towards to the miniature railway line. There are wooden signposts for “Dickies Pond” and “Pinewood Activity Centre” We spotted several wooden large sculptures which had been installed and some cute hidden fairy doors.
Dickie’s Pond acts as a good “head to” point and has a dipping platform. Pinewood Activity centre often have activities like pond dipping which can be a fun way to get kids hands on with a nature hidden in ponds that they may not often encounter.
The paths through the wooded area are buggy friendly although with it being woodland there are some tree roots and in wetter months, will be muddy.
There is a café onsite offering hot and cold refreshments and onsite toilets available.
There are lots of group and clubs run from Pinewood Activity Centre such as judo, football, boxing, yoga and dance classes. Check out their website for a more extensive list and details of how to book
