You will find Bowland Wild Boar Park in the heart of the Forest Of Bowland.
I wanted to review this on my blog and the social media posts throughout the half-term week. Read on for Our Visit To Bowland Wild Boar Park – MCA Blog…
A few tips if you are planning to visit:
It’s a really busy park. We queued in our car for around 20 minutes just to get to the barrier & swipe our pre-paid tickets.
It was busy when we arrived at noon. There were queues for the toilets and cafe. But it seemed to quieten down by 2 pm.
My advice would be to arrive early, around 10.30 am or at 1.30-2 pm, as they seem to be quieter times. We were offered a tractor ride at 4.40 pm, so arriving in the afternoon wouldn’t be an issue. Still, plenty to see and do, especially on lighter evenings.
Bring a full picnic. There are lots of benches to sit down on, despite the park being busy. There is a cafe if you prefer this but it was just too busy for us to have reasonably fed our little one.
When you see a long queue outside the reception hut, stand in it. This is how you pre-pay the tractor rides and we missed out by not doing this. (however, there is plenty to see and do for kids without spending any extra money. Especially if you have kids under 5).
I like that the park offers lower priced tickets, then you can choose to pay for additional activities.
There is no phone signal at all & the WiFi doesn’t allow you to do much. I couldn’t even make a phone call to my hubby from the reception office to the playground. Therefore, agree on meeting places and also switch money around, and contact people before you get there.
Access to the park is by small farm tracks, but driving through the Forest Of Bowland is scenic. It’s also well worth the views once you arrive.
Parking is a bit of a nightmare if you arrive a bit later and I wouldn’t want to go on a rainy, muddy day as some of the parking is on grass.
Check out what else we did during Half-Term week, including our trip to SeaLife Manchester.
Check out all my Family Day out reviews here.
Let’s dive into the full review – Our Visit To Bowland Wild Boar Park – MCA Blog
How long will it take me to walk around the park?
You can stay all day long if you pack enough food & snacks/picnic, and drinks to entertain kids. Or if you want to focus on fewer attractions you can spend as much or as little time as you want.
We spent around three hours at the park but noticed so much we hadn’t seen or done. Planning another return trip very soon to do the remaining activities.
What is the best attraction on the day?
It’s difficult to pick, but the playground is great in terms of equipment, but a bit badly set out. Adults are walking to supervise children and nearly bumping into the kids swinging.
The wild boar trail is great, you feel very much in nature but it’s a small circular walk, which is great for kids.
Any other highlights of the day?
Whenever we visit somewhere like this, we love the meerkats. It was also great to feed the animals and even the small details, such as enough hand washing and hand gel stations dotted around, was a huge bonus for me. The toilets were accessible and very clean.
Another highlight for the whole family was the goat enclosure, where you could walk through and feed the goats up close. I was a bit reluctant to go in, but my hubby and little one loved it.
Make a weekend of it
Because I am nosy and I love researching places to stay overnight, I have checked out their Bowland Escapes site and it isn’t that expensive to stay over AND you get free entry to the park.
PLEASE NOTE – all photos posted in this post are copyright ©, 2025, Sam – founder of Mummy Conquering Anxiety
