Beloved theme park once full of animals left to rot as it closed forever after 30 years | UK | Travel
A once-vibrant and lively adventure park, teeming with animals and the laughter of children, now stands as a derelict shell of its heyday.
Brocklands Adventure Park was a much-loved attraction in Kilkhampton, Cornwall, welcoming visitors from 1977 until it shut its gates for good in 2007.
Since its establishment by Dennis and Sue Vanstone, the park scooped a host of prestigious accolades. At its height, it drew in 50,000 visitors each season, having evolved from a modest tea room and shop into a fully-fledged leisure destination.
It grew into a vast complex of playgrounds, rides, animal enclosures and wildlife programmes.
In 1987, it was rebranded as Pixieland Funpark. By 1990, the park had introduced a 15-inch gauge miniature railway, pony rides, trampolines, and an all-weather playground.
In March 1997, further expansion saw the unveiling of Pip’s Place, a brand-new restaurant capable of seating 200 guests, reports Cornwall Live.
The buildings are now rotting (Image: StreetZips/YouTube)
Further attractions were added, including a ten-pin bowling alley, an archery centre, crazy golf, quad biking, bumper boats, and a mega tube slide.
Every corner of the animal kingdom was represented, with rabbits, ducks, iguanas, snakes, parrots, and even a raccoon all calling the park home.
In 2000, the park was rechristened Brocklands Adventure Park, cementing its status as a fully-fledged theme park.
The park will now be turned into houses (Image: StreetZips/YouTube)
Despite its remarkable success, the park sadly closed its doors in 2007 following the retirement of its owners. Today, vines and weeds have reclaimed the once-thriving site.
Wandering through the derelict park and discovering an old archery range, the Youtube channel Street Zips said: “There are soap dispensers, we found a bow and arrow in here. There’re drawers here, we’ve got plugs and fuses – and smart plugs – one of the things that go on your wrist to stop you getting whacked by the bow.
“Listen-listen – can you hear it? Yeah like a rat is it – I heard a squeak. The rustiness of the drawers are really cool as well. You would pay a fortune for that for a movie set piece. “
They also discovered rodent trap boxes. They said: “They’ve obviously got an infestation of something here. That’s a serious trap isn’t it. There’s some spring on that.”
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The urban explorers came across a kiwi tree that was still producing fruit. Peering into what appeared to be a former animal enclosure, they spotted posters of creatures to watch for in the taxidermy display created “only of roadkill.”
They even discovered old pheasant feathers strewn across the floor.
The YouTubers found a giant animal trap (Image: StreetZips/YouTube)
Subsequently, in 2021 a development proposal aimed to convert a principal building into a two-bedroom home, and then in 2023 planning approval was secured to construct five houses on the location.
The steel structure will be converted into a two-bedroom home.
The planning submission said: “The site comprises part of the former visitor attraction known as Brocklands Adventure Park, which closed in 2007 and contained a range of attractions split across two sites (separated by West Street).
The Adventure Park closed in 2007 (Image: Planning application)
“These attractions included 15in gauge railway, ponds, slides, pony ride track, trampolines, quad biking, bouncy castle, bumper boats, bowling alley, indoor multi-activity centre and refreshment facilities.
“The proposal involves converting the existing steel frame building to form a two-bedroom dwelling.”
