Dear Elvis2, It sounds like there was a miscommunication at the gate which started your day off on the wrong foot, please accept our apologies for this. I would like to arrange to refund you the difference if you did not gift aid your booking. You can email me on info@hollycombe.co.uk to arrange this. A family of 4 without gift aid is £13.64 each and includes 12 railway passes for the 2 railways, 4 steam tractor trailer rides, 24 fairground ride tokens (1 per ride) plus access to the steam farm, beam engine, gardens, bioscope shows and ghost house. Our open days are the days we are open rather than open without entrance fees. Entrance fees apply on all of our open days. Kind regards Lucy Twynham

Thank you for your feedback. I am saddened that you did not enjoy your day. Annual passes are still available but at a different pricing structure as opposed to the pay once gift aid scheme that ran some years ago. Under the standard day ticket pricing visitors can enjoy the rides for as little as £1.24 per ride for a child including the 2 railways. We have faced rising costs in fuel with coal almost 6 times higher than it was in 2019 and our energy bills having risen sharply. Ticket income only goes a small way towards those increases and we feel the price per ride is a competitive price. I was not aware of an issue with the traction engine ride queue and there is a sign to direct visitors where to queue. We will monitor this and ensure it is clear, I'm not sure if other visitors stated where the queue started and finished or if a volunteer misinformed you, either way that is not the norm and we go out of our way to ensure everyone has the opportunity to enjoy all of the rides. Work on the Big Wheel is underway and we look forward to its return to Hollycombe. Currently our offering is 3 big fairground rides, 3 children's fairground rides, ghost house, hall of mirrors, bioscope shows, fairground organs, steam farm, narrow-gauge railway, garden railway, traction engine rides, beam engine, portable engines in steam, the gardens and side stalls in the fairground. We host special events through the year to suit visitors that have a specific interest; our Steam Rally being geared towards those interested in Steam, the Fairground Weekend in August which features more rides and the Model Weekend in September for those interested in miniature steam and models. Our aim is to give visitors a balanced day out with lots to see and do beyond the fairground. If the fairground was central to your visit and you weren't aware of the current offering then I can appreciate your disappointment. We will continue to work on bringing rides back (which takes time, money and more volunteers) as well as ensuring visitors are aware of the current offering so visitors know what to expect. Yours sincerely Lucy Twynham