Review: The Play Village

Updated: Mar 7

The Play Village is the new go-to attraction for imaginary play, based in Ashbourne. It’s an enriching learning environment that’s role-play NOT soft-play.

The beautiful painted wooden play pods are created to be like real-world places all just the right size for little ones up to about the age of 6 or 7.

You and your children can explore:

A building site

Café

Fire Station

Hairdressers

Hospital

Office

Supermarket

Veterinary Surgery

There is also a soft baby play area.

I took Boom Girl and her friends along and they ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT! The grown-ups had a great time too, because after some initial play alongside the kiddies, we were able to leave them to it whilst we sat in the light and airy café area chatting and enjoying the lovely menu, all within sight of the kids who are in the sectioned-off play area.

An absolute bonus is that members of staff go in and play with the kids, they were so engaged that we got some great grown-up catch up for a really good length of time. It’s a family business designed with the parent and child in mind – they really seem to get the balance right of what a family wants on a kiddy trip out. The session began with an engaging member of staff going through the rules of play and a special song to begin play, then tidy-up music marked the end of the session which staff oversee, so that meant the kids knew it was time to go with out the stand-off you sometimes get from from them as a parent!

The sessions are 2hrs 15 minutes long which was a really decent length for quality play and well worth the entry cost of £9.95 (1 adult free, £2.50 additional adult).

I was particularly impressed with the menu with a good range of light bites, hot food and cakes including vegan and Gluten Free.

There were 2 toilets, a baby change and plenty of high chairs too!