Paultons Park – one of the south's best theme parks – has a new ride and we tried it out

​The first time we visited my daughter was two and making the most of Peppa Pig World – with its nine themed rides and meet-and-greet opportunities – was our main aim.

But fast forward eight years and we’re still regular visitors to this epic family theme park because it offers so much for children of all ages – and adults, too.

Now my children, aged ten and six, love all the more-daring attractions and have us running backwards and forwards across the park all day to ride as many rides as possible.

And even though they’re not the target age for Peppa any more, they still both enjoy a spin or two on the attractions in this fully immersive world.

Hairspray at Theatre Royal Brighton: We went to opening night of this epic West End touring production

We were lucky enough to be invited to visit this brilliant theme park again on Saturday, and we lucked out with the fine and dry weather.

It’s an easy drive from Sussex, and for us in Worthing it took around an hour and 10 minutes.

I’d suggest anyone planning a visit gets there around 9.30am, to allow time to park, walk to the entrance, use the loo and be ready and waiting at one of the themed lands when the clock strikes ten!

Like most theme parks, the first hour or two of the day are the best and it’s when you’ll get the most rides done in the shortest amount of time.

Paultons Park is one of our favourites because its wait times, generally, aren’t too bad anyway. Couple this with the low crowd levels of theme parks at opening time, and we managed to ride all the big coasters (most of them twice) before it was even lunch time. Storm Chaser, Flight of the Pterosaur, Velociraptor and Cobra are all great rollercoasters. None of them are so terrifying that they’re not suitable for younger children, but they provide a really good thrill. In my opinion, they’re the perfect family-level coasters.

And for the first time this year, we were all brave enough to try Edge. You sit on a giant disc travelling along a 90 metre track at 43mph. I never thought my six-year-old would be up for something that looked quite as wild as this but after a day of building his confidence on all the other Paultons rides he was adamant about riding – and loved it.

As well as the brilliant Paultons rides, what we love about the park is how clean and well-maintained it is. Not only do all the rides and restaurants look pristine, the toilets are always clean and the grounds are really well cared for.

Plus, they are always investing. Pretty much every time we visit there is something new to see or do, and this trip was no exception.

New this year is Splash Lagoon, a Jurassic water boat adventure for junior thrill-seekers, within the Lost Kingdom area.

Although it’s pretty small and it wasn’t especially warm, both my kids wanted to ride this twice as it was such good fun.

Also, a new immersive exhibition of apparitions and haunted artefacts, displayed in Ghostly Manor is being constructed – giving us yet another reason to visit again next year.

Something else to mention is the brilliant attention to detail throughout the park. All the theming is so immersive. I love the Tornado Springs area, with its feeling of old mid-west Americana and particularly enjoy the Route 83 diner here and the brilliant Al’s Shop and Service. In my opinion, it also offers the best range of rides which includes the thrilling Storm Chaser but also water slide ride Buffalo Falls, the Windmill Towers mini drop-towers, the family coaster Farmyard Flyer and Al’s Auto Academy, a driving ride, which are all great fun.

Before the park closed at 5pm, we managed to ride about 75 per cent of the park’s rides multiple times. And we even found time to stop for lunch and buy some treats from the shops. What a day!

For more information, see https://paultonspark.co.uk