London Wetland Centre, Barnes

We love going to the Barnes Wetlands Centre. I have to say that while it is lovely to wander about the ducks on the ponds, the children probably adore most the brilliant playground area they have here. In the playground there is a big mound of earth with tunnels inside the kids can crawl through and pretend to be worms – or other creatures! There is also a great pulley rope which is extremely popular and often has the kids queuing. We like to spend the whole day at the centre and have a picnic there, we love exploring the little trails and spotting birds from hides. Barnes Wetland Centre souvenir shop is also great fotr kids.

We visited the Barnes Wetlands Centre with two four year olds and they both really enjoyed the trip! Aside from walking through the grounds and spotting ducks, ducklings and geese on the ponds, which kept the children entertained for hours, there are also brilliant educational areas. The education centre, located in one of the main buildings in the courtyard, takes children through a series of rooms illustrating pond life. Illustrations and models are hung on the walls and from the ceiling, so it appears as though you are exploring underwater. Upstairs, there are a number of water games, including hosing and pumping water, so children can learn through play. In the grounds we found a lovely, and quite large, yurt, which the children liked playing in. It was cold when we went as the area is quite flat and open, so out of summer it is worth bringing an extra jumper!

This is a bit of a surprise. You expect worthy eco lectures about the need for bio-diversity in our cities and instead you get pond dipping for water bugs with nets and buckets and much hands on fun in the main building inlcuding a great water firing range. Then a long, winding and fascinating walk through the reeds and birds takes you to a superb playing area with all sorts of wetland themed goodies including a fully functional rain storm - bring swimmers in the summer and brollies and a change of clothes in the winter - it's very good wet fun is this. The little food outlet in the playpark is every bit as good for food as the excellent but expensive restaruant in the main building.

We spent a very relaxing day at the London Wetlands Centre over the Easter weekend. Tickets are a little pricey but if you love nature and walking, it’s great. We saw numerous species of birds, and if you go in spring – be prepared to explain the many mating displays! We had a good giggle when my son exclaimed, “ Look! That duck is trying to drown the other duck!” Enough said. It was a beautiful day, and we really enjoyed the fresh air and sunshine. There are several hides for viewing and the children loved the sculptures that were scattered around the park – made totally from recycled materials. The education centre kept the children amused with interactive displays – water play has always been a favourite! Highly recommended.

We had an enjoyable day at the Wetlands Centre with our 2 young children on Father's Day. Although there were plenty of open spaces and areas for our kids to roam around, we had to keep a close eye of them as there was a lot of open water. Our kids are still quite young and not really old enough to appreciate the excellent information boards. However, there is a fantastic adventure playground with a cafe and picnic tables, which our kids loved playing in. The cafe was also excellent, serving healthy foods and proved to be really good value for money. If we went again, we'd bring a picnic as there are some great little picnic spots off the beaten track. The centre attracts some serious bird watchers, a number of whom didn't seem to appreciate the presence of children - so try to avoid the watchtowers and hideouts with younger children as they might disturb them! Parking was easy on this busy Sun afternoon, but it looked like there were buses right into the centre itself.

A fantastic day out with the kids. Lots of bird spotting outdoors along interesting winding pathways (buggy friendly). A good restaurant with hot meals and picnic boxes or you can take your own picnic along. Lovely park activity area suitable for toddlers as well as 4-8 year olds with a coffee kiosk to buy a coffee for mum (all important). The pond dipping session is a must where the kids get a chance to dip for mini beasts and if the weather is a bit off, you have a great indoor interactive area, a wetlands movie you can watch and the flightcentre where you can view birds from a double story viewing area. World class.