Review - Toddler World at Wycombe Rye Lido

If you're local to Wycombe then you know the Rye, I'd also bet that you've been to the Lido - either years ago, or since it's refurbishment a few years ago. I first tried it out when I was pregnant with Lily, it was perfect right at the end of a really hot summer and I wished I'd found it sooner.

What you may not know, is that they also offer a fun soft play session called 'Toddler World'. It's on every Tuesday and Thursday, even during term-time and costs just £2 a child per hour (although they weren't strict on timings when I was there).


When Lily was a baby I would go to toddler world with a friend and her baby boy, Maximus. The babies would crawl around and play and I could grab a coffee with my friend and have a catch up. The location was pretty easy to get too (apart from the one time we attempted a short cut and got stuck between a lake giant puddle and some very swampy muddy ground) and it was nice to have a wander and feed the ducks after. If the children hadn't worn themselves out in the soft play area, there was always the park or adventure playground to try out.

For some reason though the sessions stopped, and then between going back to work, falling pregnant with Ollie and learning to juggle two children I completely forgot about it until recently when I saw the soft play had started again.

So we went to try it out.


The session runs from 9am on a Tuesday and 11am on a Thursday and closes at 3pm on both days. The guys on Reception are really friendly and helpful when they take your payment - children under one go free. The play area is adjacent to the cafe area, which is great for grabbing a cuppa whilst the children play but isn't too great that the cafe doesn't open until 10am and so on a Tuesday you can have a long (an hour is a long time at soft play) wait for the much needed caffeine fix.


It's a simple set-up with soft walls and an inflatable middle. The walls have velcro games for the children to play with and move about and there are lots of balls to throw around and use with the blower (no idea if that is the right term but we'll go with it for now).

It was quiet when we got there just after 9 but began to get busy a little while later, with more people turning up after 10 (perhaps they knew about the lack of tea before that point) and we happily spent just over an hour playing before grabbing some snacks at the cafe and heading home.


It's yet another welcome addition to the activities on offer in town for babies and toddlers. I like that it doesn't cost a fortune and so you don't mind not staying all day. I often feel a bit let down by the large soft play facilities locally, they're over-crowded, noisy and expensive. I found that Toddler World entertained my two for the same amount of time, for less money. And we had a lovely walk back through the park on our way to the bus stop. Pretty good all round!

*I have not been asked by anyone to write this review and all opinions are my own*
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