Paultons Park at Halloween - we turned a one-day trip into two with a hotel stay to magic up a minibreak

Well, after a summer in which we prayed for rain, autumn has definitely given it to us.

And in classic October half-term weather - soundtracked by Met Office heavy rain and wind warnings, prefaced by a storm that skittled over many trees on the south coast - we headed to Paultons Park. And while we were determined to hit the theme park as hard as we could, we went protected; anoraks, waterproof trousers, hats and gloves were the order of the day.

For the uninitiated, Paultons Park, near Romsey in Hampshire, is the family-owned theme park that caters to all bases - and wins. Love rollercoasters? The fact that you can always hear screams of joy from the car park testifies that that side of things is covered. This year’s opening of the new “world” of Valgard: Realm of the Vikings , which introduced the park’s first inverting - as in, goes upside-down at one point but it also has a sheer drop near the beginning - ride Drakon only adds to this.

Don’t like rollercoasters? Not a problem, there are plenty of more sedentary things to do - all of Peppa Pig World for example, for younger children, but also several more gentle attractions.

Dislike all kinds of motion? Well, let me introduce you to the penguins and meerkats. Job done.

Another feature is its size. Paultons is by some standards quite small - probably less than a 10-minute walk from one side to the other but rarely do you see the kinds of queues that bedevil other famous theme parks. Yes, the new Viking rides do see some wait times - and topped an hour when they opened - but in general (while I have definitely several years ago stood in line for 45 minutes for the Peppa Pig monorail with small children) they are nowhere near that. And on days, as this week, where the weather has definitely deterred some people, it was a doddle. We had no special “fast pass” or “priority access” but easily notched up double figures over two six-hour days

TO BOOK A PAULTONS PARK WEEKEND CLICK HERE

And yes, two days. Because actually, taking two days over a theme park trip takes a lot of the pressure out of it, and hugely adds to the pleasure. We’ll return to this.

Just to give a blow-by-blow account, on Sunday four of us went and, after a look at impressively numerous pumpkin displays (there must literally be thousands of gourds around the park) we split up for a bit. I’m not ashamed to admit I was in the less adventurous camp; I’m happy to look after my son Eddie who follows me in not wanting his stomach and brains to be exploded by G-force (although he is very partial to the chairoplanes).

We happily occupied ourselves on the Cat-o-Pillar ride, and in the Tornado Springs area, which includes the Windmill Towers drop ride, the Farmyard Flyer coaster and Buffalo Falls water raft race. My seven-year-old daughter and her mother are far more thrillseekery than us and so went for the Vild Swing and the Flight of the Pterosaur (seats which hang from a track zoom around at about 35mph).

After a while we met up and the children went to the driving school - at nine and seven being in control of a small car is pretty exciting, so much so we returned on the Monday - and then we caught the seasonal show The Great Halloween Mystery (thankfully under cover). Then we went round Ghostly Manor - a brilliant “shoot ‘em up and score points” experience that is great at any time of year, but particularly apt in the Halloween run-up.

When it got about half four we’d been in the park for six hours, and the kids were getting tired, but treat among treats, it wasn’t home time yet. We hopped on the motorway and after just over 20 minutes on the M27 were at the Solent Hotel and Spa in Whiteley - our place for the night before another Paultons session the following day.

TO BOOK A PAULTONS PARK WEEKEND CLICK HERE

The hotel is great. The outside makes clear it’s a modern building but a huge fireplace and wood panelling in the main reception give it the feel of a country house hotel. We were lucky enough to be staying in the main block, with a double bed and twin sofa beds for the kids, and we were just down the corridor from the pool and spa.

Before any thoughts of that, though, the Fyr restaurant called. It prides itself on its open-flame grill and has a menu which leans on the meatier end of life. We can testify they know what they are doing - a starter of burnt ends was sticky but soft, charred but not spoiled… just as it should be. A main course of a 6oz piece of brisket brought out a cut of meat that fell to pieces with a gentle touch, again as it should. There’s nothing worse than undercooked brisket (you’ll still be chewing it next week) but there are fewer things better when done right.

A half spatchcock chicken was also spot on, while the children got stuck into fish and chips and linguine. In fairness, they were ready to sleep and indeed requested to lie down on the banquette seating in between courses.

A restorative sleep, a full English breakfast, and a 9am pool visit then welcomed the day before heading back west for day two. This was a quieter park day than Sunday as the forecast was poor, but even had it been better it was a real luxury to be able to go back to the rides we’d decided were our favourites and also try more. The children wanted to try Peppa Pig World so ended up riding a dinosaur, going on the monorail and giving the Windy Castle ride a go (both of the latter do give great views of the park, to be fair), as well as looking at the penguins, watching the meerkats being fed and cooing over the little tenrec hedgehog.

We also went on the rides on the edge of the park that almost don’t fit in with any of the themes, but are nonetheless enjoyable - the Kon-Tiki, a boat which rocks and rotates and the gentle Viking boat ride which hasn’t made its way down to the new Viking world.

After two full days we were tired but exhilarated - and certainly have learned a new trick. Yes, adding a hotel stay is obviously an expense, but it turns a day trip into a holiday. And that’s really worth something.