In the last couple of years I've been to quite a few good parks along the South coast and have been pleasantly surprised. Parks like Clarence Pier, Funland, and Harbour Park, all of which while lacking major attractions all offer a nice afternoon out. Recently on a visit to East Anglia we popped to Hunstanton for the day, and found the park which provided the biggest surprise yet.

A lot of this comes from knowing very little about the park before going. I couldn't find a park website, (it has got one since my visit) and all I could find online was a few photos of the parks roller coaster. I saw an advert for it in a local guide, but it just mentioned the amusements and some traditional favourites like the Twister, Waltzer, Jump n Smile and Dodgems, giving the impression of a generic seaside amusement park. I was very surprised to find a park that exceeded these expectations.

One theory I have is that a great amusement park (not theme park) is just as much about fitting as much as possible in the space available, as it is about it's top attractions. It should be noted we skipped some of the more generic rides, due to the fact we had some non coaster fans in the group, so didn't want to hold them up too much, which is why they're not reviewed. I can though recall at least 18 rides at the park, which is an amazing achievement in a park you can walk around in 2 minutes.

Another pleasant surprise was some of the rides I didn't know about until we got there. There are some good seaside resort classics like the Paratrooper and the Roulette, a travant style ride. There are a few rides which are historical curiosities like the Loop o Plane, and Nightmare, the ghost train. This is also one of the better fairground ghost trains I've been on in the UK.

I've heard some criticism of this park, mostly it's more of a funfair than a proper amusement park. This does show in how there are no wristbands or tokens, you just pay cash for each ride. I would say the lack of wristbands does bring up some issues of cost and value, but I think the individual cost per ride is reasonable enough for this not to be to major an issue.

I agree the ride line up is that of a funfair, but it's the line up of a good funfair. It's not quite up to the standards of a major British funfair, but it's a good mid sized one. I would get excited if a fair like this came to my home town.

Overall it doesn't have the major rides for it to be a must do, but if you find yourself in the area it's worth making the effort to seek this out.