Located in the Medway Valley Leisure Park near Stroud in Rochester, Diggerland is described as ‘The Ultimate Adventure Theme Park Experience’ where children and adults can ride, drive and operate REAL diggers, dumpers and other full- size construction machinery.
Diggerland Kent is suitable for all ages and works on a height system. Noah (almost 4 years) was able to get involved in nearly all of the activities and Isabella (2 years) was able to go on most of them, but slightly less than her brother. Generally, if they are over 90 cms, there are lots of things for the kids to get involved in. Children Under 90 cms go for free.
There are 20 different rides and drives and an array of additional activities at Diggerland Kent including real JCBs and 180/360 Excavators, Dumptrucks, Diggers, a Spindizzy, Skyshuttle, Mini Landroveres, an off-road Groundshuttle, Dodgems, Go-Karts and so much more!
Diggerland physically isn’t huge but still adequate, this means its relatively easy to get around the place as it’s all paved and essentially in a big circle with the activities and rides in the centre. It’s easily accessible for pushchairs too (although we found we didn’t actually need ours) There is also plenty of seating scattered around and grass areas if you do wish to take a break.
The Dippy Trucks, Buried Treasure and Skittles are all in a line and used the same JCB crane style operation, there are lots of these which is good and you have enough time until you have finished it, little children of 90cm-1.2m can do it with a parent to help.
I was keen to ride the train, so that we could see some more of the park as it takes you up to the top end of the park. The Tractor Train had small seats which tagged along at the back of the tractor which was super cool. We all enjoyed the bumpy ride, and Noah loved being behind us in the small log buggy. Isabella loved being at the front of the train and waving to everyone we passed.
The Ground shuttle was a big JCB and you sat with others in the front lifter, and got taken up and around a track, which was very bumpy and a little high. The Sky Shuttle though was a similar idea but with a much higher JCB and crane, this didn’t move but just went up high, near 50 feet! and you hung up there for a few minutes!
One of the biggest attractions was Spin Dizzy, it was like a theme park ride in which you get swung around by a big JCB and Crane. We didn’t go on this though as the children were too little but it looked like great fun, and was very popular with the older children.
My favourite ride (yes I enjoyed the rides / attractions just as much as the children did – maybe even more. Hehe) has to be the Robots, although not fast these were awesome. We were able to navigate through twist and turns, down dips and over bumps all whilst skidding in the mud. Isabella and I were actually arguing over who was the driver on these. Little Miss independent wanted to do it all on her own.
The rides all seemed very safe and secure, and all workers were very pleasant. We have never experienced a theme park like this before. Something unique was the entry boards into each ride, not only did it list the height requirements and who it was suitable for, it shared how much the machinery cost and how much it weighed!
There is also a soft play here but to be honest we didn’t even get a chance to visit this part of the park, we were having too much fun outside on the machinery. This would be great however if you had smaller children who maybe weren’t able to make use of the larger machinery outside, or if you needed to escape the wet weather.
I was really impressed with the volume of machinery and activities they have at Diggerland Kent and the fact that the kids get to actually drive so many of them both with and without the help of a parent. I really think this is a fun day out for all of the family and not just for the kids!
I really love how the park is considering becoming more greener as an attraction and now offer electric car charging points on site. This is a great addition and something which we will be using in the future as are looking into getting an electric family car.
We had a lovely visit here, there is so much to entertain the children and us adults had just as much fun as they did. Due to the children’s height there was of course certain rides and attractions which we weren’t able to do, but this means we will have the enjoyment of visiting again soon and seeing what else the park has to offer.
