On Tuesday we headed to the British Ironwork Centre. It seemed the perfect stop off for our journey home from North Wales. A chance to stretch our legs outdoors and get a bite to eat.
Entry to the British Ironwork Centre is FREE.
When you first enter the park you drive by lots of large sculptures (you can go and look at these in more detail on foot) , park your car and see a dragon on top of a car. The girls loved this as it made them giggle.
Social distancing was in full force with a one way system around the indoor venue (shop and cafe) and a person was stood at the door to check everyone was wearing masks and adhering to social distancing. The main toilets were closed for safety reasons and instead a portaloo was in the car park for those who needed the toilet.
The girls immediately headed to the play park. It had a climbing frame for children with slides, a firemans pole, climbing wall and a bridge and two little slide frames for toddlers. Along with a large sandpit.
At the entrance to the sculpture safari park, they had some photo stand ins where children (and adults if you felt inclined) could put their faces in the stand holes to have their pictures taken. My two couldn’t resist.
The safari park sculpture trail was great with a number of different sized sculptures. From elephants to turtles. All spaced out around the grounds.
We got to see the Gorilla Apocalypse made entirely from spoons. Such a clever piece of art.
They also had the Knife Angel for you to look at. I had seen it in Birmingham when it was there but it was always too busy to look at properly. Here you could stand right next to it and look at it.
If you’re hungry they have a cafe selling a variety of cakes, snacks and drinks. We indulged in some cakes and drinks, all very reasonably priced. And sat outside to eat these.
There’s plenty of room around the grounds to take your own picnic too.
Before we left, we enjoyed looking around the shop where there are a variety of indoor and outdoor things to purchase. We got the girls these beautiful wooden stools for only £10 each.
It is worth noting that online they have changed their opening hours to Monday to Friday 10am – 4pm and are now closed on weekends. I can only guess this is due to Covid and wanting to ensure they do not get too busy.
From Great Barr (North Birmingham) it is a 60 minute drive, which isn’t too bad for a free trip out (you’d probably spend 2 hours here). We will go back again one day and will check out Oswestry when we next return.