Nestled between Highworth and Fairford, sitting pretty on the Cotswold Lakeside, is a unique play area and cafe that Swindon’s young families are discovering and describing as a ‘hidden gem’.
Just 20 minutes drive from North Swindon, Hocus Pocus Play is wowing visitors with its enchanted play area, lakeside teepee garden, and independent cafe. Setting themselves apart from soft play centres, the family-run business incorporates its surrounding Cotswolds charm with natural light flooding the play area, the sound of birdsong playing, hand-painted woodland designs, and a rarity for kid’s play areas – windows! (And not a warehouse in sight!)
Regularly reviewed as ‘fantastic for families’, ‘the best sensory play area’, and ‘a hidden gem’ (recent Google reviews), the small family business is hoping to spread the word about the magic they have to offer and become less of a ‘hidden’ treasure.
Describing her vision, owner Catherine Welch explains ‘We wanted to create a relaxing yet fun fairytale world for children to discover. We’ve tried to echo the natural world around us and bring the Cotswolds countryside indoors with the use of birdsong, blue and green colour schemes, plenty of natural light, and many hidden woodland creatures. It’s a really fun and enchanting environment.’
Opened by family team Bob and Catherine in 2019 and shortly hit by an extended closure due to COVID, the venue is growing from strength to strength, regularly booked out for family parties, hosting unique and enchanting family events and even throwing a weekly live music and supper club in its sister venue, the on-site Magic Beans Cafe.
Recommended for children up to the age of 6, the bespoke and largely hand-crafted play area features a play castle, roller slide, secret starlit tunnel, treehouse climbing structure, reading nooks, giant sensory tubes and so much more for children to interact with, and inspire imaginations.
Open Tuesdays – Sundays with 2 timed slots per day, Hocus Pocus Play offers families the chance to relax and catch up with friends while the children play nearby. The play area is small enough to know the kids are playing safely, but detailed and interactive enough to keep them thoroughly entertained for the 2-hour session – a trip which can easily be extended by tasty treats from the freshly cooked menu (we highly recommend the French toast stack with bacon!), playing in the sandpit cafe and teepees in the garden or with games, toys, and books inside the cafe on gloomy days.
Families wanting to visit this fantastic space for themselves can check out all the details at hocuspocusplay.co.uk.
