Irish National Heritage Park offers a great insight into the country’s history with its medieval tours. The same is with its famous lighthouse. And if you want more adventure, you can visit the Pirates Cove Adventure Centre or Blackwater Open Farm for fun outdoor and indoor activities.
If you are looking for something fun to do in Wexford together with your kids, then there are various entertainment centres you can visit and tours you can take.
Located in the sunny southeast of Ireland, Wexford is home to sunny beaches and 275 km of coastline.
But you will also find woodland walks and various activity centres in Wexford, making it the perfect place to visit with your kids on vacations.
In this blog, you will find some of the best places to visit and activities to do with your kids in Wexford. After all, a vacation with kids calls for fun and adventure.
So, stick with us and read on.
1. Explore the Irish National Heritage Park
If you want to experience Ireland’s ancient east with your kids, the Irish National Heritage Park is the place you need to visit. With 16 reconstructed historical places and more than 40 acres of woodland, this Park will give you a holistic and fun experience.
The Irish National Heritage Park is located just outside Wexford Town near the River Slaney estuary.
You can visit the historic settlements and buildings by taking a family tour where you’ll learn how the earliest civilisations in Ireland lived and worked.
The Park offers various types of tours.
For instance, the prehistoric Ireland tour will give you a glimpse of how Ireland looked back in 7000 BC.
You can stand in the stone circle, see the monuments around the landscape, and understand how the hunter-gatherers lived.
Another tour you can take is based on the time of Early Christian in Ireland.
The tour will show you how social structures developed among the communities, together with centres of learning, political power, and art. Through this tour, you can visit stone houses and wooden structures. You will also see farming methods and technology from that time.
And if you want to experience how Irish history looked like during warfare and heavy combat, then you can take an Age of Invasion Tour. Ireland has come under the attack of Nordic invaders, Vikings, and then the Normans. These invasions influenced the defensive structures and architecture in Ireland, which you can explore.
And that’s not all!
Irish National Heritage Park also offers various experiential-based experiences.
For example, you can stay overnight in the Park in a Viking House, designed just like that from 1000 years ago. The houses are made up of a central hearth, a thatched roof, and wattle walls with enough space for 8 people.
Or how about observing yourself in the life of Vikings by wearing their clothes and armour?
You will find various opportunities in the Park to wear their clothing and learn about their customs.
The Park also organises Hawk Walks from time to time, where you can come close to predatory hawks, fly them from your arm, and observe how they behave.
2. Visit the Blackwater Open Farm
At the Blackwater Open farm, you will find farm animals, a Go-Kart track, a playground, a life-size model of a milking cow, tractor rides, a garden café, and even a bouncy castle. The Garden Café operates seasonally every year from Easter to September.
If you are looking for indoor and outdoor activities for kids, then Blackwater Open Farm is the place to visit.
Although the menu is subject to changes, you will mostly find homemade soup, toasted sandwiches, gourmet burgers, fish salads, sourdough pizzas, scones, cakes, and desserts in the café.
Their chefs can even cater to your dietary requirements if there are certain ingredients that you avoid.
The farm is also available for special birthday parties.
The first birthday party package starts from 12 euros per child and includes:
- Entrance in the farm and all the activities
- Food and drink
- An area decorated for the party
- No time limit
The second package costs $13.50 and includes
- Entrance to the farm and all activities
- An area decorated for the party
- Food and drinks but with more variety
- No time limit
Entry on the farm is 7 euros per person.
You can also buy a family ticket for two children and two adults, which will cost you 35 euros.
You can purchase tickets by calling the Blackwater Open Farm at 087 130 3057 or when you arrive at the farm.
3. Check out Hook Lighthouse Visitor Centre
Built by Knight William Marshal, the Hook Lighthouse Visitor Centre offers a guided tour all across the week. You will climb the tower’s 115 steps, go through its chambers, meet hologram figures of various Knights and hear their stories.
Hook Lighthouse Visitor Centre is one of the oldest operational lighthouses all across the world. Constructed 800 years ago, the Hook Lighthouse is also a favourite across Ireland.
By visiting the centre, you will get a chance to experience Ireland’s medieval history while also savouring its incredible views.
You can visit its Café and relax by the sea.
Or, if you want to take back a souvenir, you can visit the gift shop, art exhibits, and workshops.
Summer workshops are also open every day to paint, work with recycled products, and simply have a good time.
You can even have adult workshops organised, conducted by both elderly artists and disabled artists. In this way, both you and your kids can have a fun time in the visitor centre.
Another reason for visiting the lighthouse is the hook peninsula, which is a special area of conservation.
Hook Head under Irish and EU legislation is a prime wildlife conservation area.
Its habitat includes blanket bogs, dunes, turloughs, raised bogs, machair, rivers, lakes, heaths, estuaries, woodlands, and sea inlets.
Some well-known species protected here include Freshwater Pearl Mussel, Otter, Salmon, Killarney Fern, and Bottlenose Dolphin.
You’ll also view humpback whales and dolphins that continue to attract even the locals.
There have been various sightings of the majestic whales exploding out of the water. You can also view Fin Whales in the area.
In this way, the Hook Heritage Visit Centre has a lot to offer for the entire family.
You can view the details regarding the guided tours and family tickets on the Hook Lighthouse Visitor Centre website.
4. Have fun in the Leisuremax Entertainment Centre
You can experience activities like bowling, goggle soccer, sumo wrestling, and a footy pool. Leisuremax is primarily known for its indoor adventure playground, which caters to children aged 2 to 12. Here, children can ride up on slides, jump on trampolines, and play in ball pits.
A fun-filled entertainment centre, Leisuremax is perfect for all those wanting an adventurous get-together.
Activities include:
- Goggle soccer (Binocular football)
- Table tennis
- Minecraft
- Lego
- Slime
- Laser Tag
- Footy pool
- Archery
- Climbing Wall
- Bowling
- Gladiator
- Zorbing
- Sumo
- Bungee Run
Children over ten years of age can visit the outdoor adventure tower with activities such as zip line, abseiling, climbing wall, and leap of faith.
The entertainment centre is open daily from 10 am to 7 pm. They also run weekly events for children.
You can book the activities on the Leisuremax website.
5. Visit the Pirates Cove Adventure Centre
The Pirates Cove Adventure Centre is an excellent place for bowling, paddle boats, train rides, soft play areas, and adventure golf with indoor and outdoor activities for an entire family.
You can experience the following activities in the adventure centre:
- Bumper boats
- Adventure golf
- Bowling
- Paddle boats
- Games arcade
- Kid’s karting
- Casino
- Treats counter
- The pirate train
The centre itself is curated entertainingly with giant waves, a full-sized shipwreck, and a cascading waterfall.
You can even ride on the Pirates Cove Express Train, which is operational during the summer season. There’s a lot to do in this entertainment centre.
There are also various hotels around the facility where you can easily stay.
The Pirates Cove Courtown partners with various hotels such as Riverside Park Hotel Enniscorthy and Arklow Bay Hotel.
So checking in with these hotels will mean that you will be able to get free entry and enjoy free activities at the Pirates Cover Courtown.
How cool is that?
You can book your tickets online on the Pirates Cove website.
Conclusion
There’s a lot to do in Wexford, especially if you have children and are looking for a family day out.
You can visit the Irish National Heritage Park and take up a medieval tour around thousand-year-old heritage sites. Or you can see the town’s famous lighthouse and savour its majestic views.
How about something more fun?
You should visit Pirates Cove Adventure Centre. You can also visit Blackwater Open Farm for fun outdoor and indoor activities.
If you are visiting Wexford for a vacation, start with booking a vacation home.
Relax Ireland offers ample options to book a vacation home and start your vacations in the right way.
