Greenwood Forest Park
If you’re looking for a fun (and green) family day out, look no further than Greenwood Forest Park, Snowdonia’s exceptional award-winning attraction. North Wales’ only Forest Park is home to lots of exciting rides, attractions and events, as well as some great green initiatives.
Make sure you don’t miss the Green Dragon Roller Coaster – the world’s first environmentally-friendly roller coaster. The Green Dragon actually harnesses people-power to minimise the use of electricity - you first walk up to the loading platform of the roller coaster car and ride down.
The combined weight of all the people in the car as it goes down the hill makes enough energy to pull the empty coaster cars back up the hill to the loading station. In fact over the course of a year, the ride generates more power than it uses!
Great rides for little ones include the Giant Jumper – a giant bouncy pillow that’s quickly become one of the most popular rides at the park. There’s also a Toddler’s Village which includes a sand play area, Pet’s Corner and lots of mini houses and slides.
If you fancy yourself as a modern-day Robin Hood, don’t miss your chance to practise your archery skills with a traditional longbow. Or if you want to learn how to survive in the rugged countryside without the comforts of home, head to Greenwood’s Den Building area. Here you can try your hand at building a shelter made of purely natural materials. Other hands-on activities on offer at Greenwood include craft workshops and a stilt-walking arena.
You’ll notice recycling bins around the park for you to recycle your rubbish, but that’s not the only recycling that goes on at Greenwood: the vegetarian leftovers from the park’s café are fed to the beautiful Peacocks you see walking around; used cooking oil from the kitchens is collected by a local company and processed into a key ingredient for bio-diesel; and even the ice cream tubs are recycled and reused!
Greenwood has also introduced a Rainwater Harvesting System, which takes the rain that falls on the roof of the Great Hall and uses it to flush the park’s toilets.
For more information, visit Greenwood Forest Park (www.greenwoodforestpark.co.uk/).