Categories
-
Recent Posts
Recent Comments
Archives
Diggerland Links
-
Diggerland is back on the Blog
Hey Everybody,
Let me first introduce myself, my name is Krystelle, Casey sadly left the company last week so I am the new Diggerland marketing assistant! Apologies that there has been no updates this year but I will be changing that!
Follow Diggerland (me!) on Twitter too for more updates
https://twitter.com/#!/diggerland_uk
A little bit about myself…Two weeks ago I returned from a winter in the Alps, my passion is snowboarding closely followed by films, music & other extreme sports. I have been a fan of Diggerland since day one where my family took me along to the JCB racing and to the early days of the Kent park. Now my little sister shares the DL enthusiasm so I am still a regular to the park.
What’s happening now
At the moment all the Diggerland parks are open every weekend between 10am & 5pm, and with the bank holiday next week we will be also be open on Monday 7th May. Any queries about our opening dates, check our opening times online http://www.diggerland.com/visiting/opening.htm
Armed Forces ‘Big Day Out’
On Saturday 21st April 2012 Diggerland hosted the ‘Armed Forces Big Day Out’ across the four parks. For the second year running Diggerland was pleased to show support to all of our Armed Forces with this memorable day. From those currently serving, to ex-servicemen, cadets and the families of those in the forces, the Big Day Out was an opportunity for everyone to celebrate the fantastic work that they do.
To show their support Diggerland gave out over £35,000 worth of FREE Diggerland entry tickets to military personnel together with their families, to have a great day out at Diggerland at this extra special event. Cadets Staff at the Strood based Diggerland in Kent collected donations throughout the day, raising over £100 for the Help for Hereos Charity. Here are some photos from the event:
Come back for more posts!
Krystelle
Here comes the sun!
Howdy Diggerland fans! Time for another installment of the award winning* Diggerland blog!
Last week it felt like the summer was really upon us! It was hot, hot, hot both Here at HO and at all of our DL parks. One of the best things about working at a theme park is that in the summer you get to be outside enjoying the weather, but here at HO we can simply look out of the window and dream…But we do get the benefit of Air-Conditioning! Ha!
Also, Louise from HO came back from a holiday to Greece and made us all feel very jealous with her tan so it was nice not to have to suffer the pain of miserable weather to boot! She sent us this postcard which arrived in the UK only a week after she did! Looks lovely. Although, Paul noticed something sinister about the central image…Some UFO’S!! Spooky…
From Louise's holiday to Greece...Or was it Roswell?!
So what’s been going down at Diggerland??
The Cash for Kids Big Day Out @ DL Durham!
Well….On Thurs 28th July DL Durham was the chosen venue for the guys and gals from TFM Radio their Cash for Kids Big Day Out.
Cash for kids is the the official Charity of TFM Radio & Magic 1170 and over the last 30 years or so has raised millions of pounds to help sick, disabled and disadvantaged children in the local area. DL donated 500 tickets for the event so that some of these children could come along with their friends and family to enjoy a great day out.
The presenters from TFM hosted the day and broadcast live from the park and Mark, Lee, Sarah and all the staff at Durham agree that it really was a fantastic and fun event for everyone that came.
TFM broadcast live from DL on the day
DL Durham was lucky enough to host the Big Day Out last summer and following on from it’s great success was happy to be part of the event again this year, and support such a great cause! Thanks to everyone who came and all the team at TFM. They’ve even let us have some of their lovely photos!
Last Friday, thanks to the wonder of Twitter, I came across a wonderful little poem that one of our younger visitors had written after a visit to Diggerland with his family…
Oscar from 4H wrote a short, but very sweet rhyme which perfectly sums up what DL is all about! It is ALWAYS nice when people have enjoyed their visit with us but even nicer when someone takes the time to tell us about and nicer still that someone wrote a peom about it!
Thanks a lot, Oscar. Your teacher Mr Handley should feel very lucky to have you in his class. You can read Oscar’s poem on his class website, here!
DIGGERLAND NEEDS YOUR HELP!!!
We will be looking to add a new ride to the DL family in 2012 and we’re looking for your ideas and designs in a new competition we’re launching.
Could your idea be a design sensation, like 'Spindizzy'?!
The competition asks for you to submit your ideas including a name for your concept. If your design is chosen then you will win a years free pass for you and 3 others to visit DL as often as you like, while we’re open, for a whole year!
You will also be have the proud honour of naming the new attraction of course! To find out what we’re looking for and how to enter click here. Who knows your idea could be as big as ‘Spindizzy’!
Ohhhh..And don’t forget to tune into Channel 5 on Friday at 8pm for the last episode in the current series of Danger: Diggers at Work…It was great to see Diggerland featured last week!
Diggerland is open every day at the moment so people can make the most of their summer with a great day out. Thanks for taking the time to read the blog. Until next time…Happy Digging!
*Please note the the award was for ’Best Blog about Diggerland’ …which I awarded to myself….
Posted in Devon, Diggerland, Durham, Great Day Out, Kent, Things to do, Yorkshire
Tagged TFM Radio
Leave a comment
Back for Good…
First things first…a million apologies that the blog has been on hiatus for such a loooong time.
Diggerland has been super busy preparing for our 7 day opening and I have had to swim through a pile of papers just to write this post!! I promise it will never happen again!
To make up for it though we have lots and lots of lovely news for you!
Our fantastic Armed Forces Day celebration was on the 25th June…
This was the first time that Diggerland has held an event of this kind and magnitude. Tickets were available on our website from the 1st May and the allocation was filled much faster than we could have imagined.
Taking a trip on the Dig-a-Round
With various events being held across the country, over 2000 personnel and their loved ones came to Diggerland’s in Kent, Devon, Durham and Yorkshire to enjoy a great day out of diggers, dumpers and dirt!
As well as showing our support for the forces, this was also a
Enjoying Armed Forces Day at Diggerland Yorkshire
great opportunity for families who have spent significant amounts of time apart, or who are now preparing to be separated. It means a lot that Diggerland was able to give these families a wonderful day out together!
Thanks to everyone that attended with a special mention to the Army’s 11 EOD Regiment RLC (Bomb Disposal Unit) who presented us with this special plaque to thank us for our donation!
Thanking us for our support!
I hope you have all been tuning into Danger: Diggers at work on Channel 5. Focussing on our sister company H.E. Services, it gives an in depth no frills insight into all the jobs H.E. machines are used for.
Here at Diggerland we have been really enjoying watching our friends on the show and it’s really interesting to see behind the scenes as to how diggers are being used across the country. For anyone who thinks that diggers are only used for shifting dirt, think again…
Well done to everyone at HE for all the hard work that’s gone into the series, looking forward to seeing the next episode on Friday.
Some of the 'stars' ready for action!
If you haven’t seen the show yet tune in on Fridays at 8pm, and if you missed any make sure to catch up by visiting Demand 5! You might even catch a cheeky peek of Diggerland!
Last Sunday myself and Hollie from HO were lucky enough to have our very first JCB Racing experience!
We arrived at DL Kent,to meet our fellow participants at 10.30am. We made our way to the racing area and were given a briefing by the one and only Andy Garrott (Park manager, Digger Stuntman and Star of Channel 5′s, Danger: Diggers at work), we got down to the actual Racing…
Ready....Steady....
Now to be good at this it isn’t necessarily about speed, it’s also about skill…unfortunately it seems I have neither and I nearly tipped over a very big, very expensive JCB 3CX much to the amusement of the other racers and several colleagues!
Negotiating the course...It's harder than it looks!
Hollie managed a much better job though and did a very impressive job hopefully saving the reputation of HO! Well done, Hollie!
Needless to say I will not be giving up my day job. Who’d of thought driving a 8 1/2 tonne Digger would be so hard?!
Top Tip: Don’t drive into a ditch….
Heading for the finish line!
All in all it was great fun, and a fantastic experience, and without wanting to sound bias I would recommend it to anyone who is brave enough and likes a challenge! Plus it’s always nice to visit the park and see people enjoying a lovely family day out.
They think it's all over...
Special thanks too to marshals Wayne, Scarlett and Holly who were incredidbly patient and enthusiastic and helped make the day a success, and also of course to our fellow racers. Well done to you all!
The big news is of course…
WE ARE OPEN!!! Yes, from today until 4th September the UK’s most unique and fantastic theme park is open everyday from 10am to 5pm.
These means that they guys in Kent, Devon, Durham and Yorkshire (and my fellow busy bees here at Head Office) will be working flat out to make sure each one of you who comes to visit us to has a great day out…What are you waiting for!?
Please take some time out to comment. Until next time…Happy digging!
Rain, rain, go away!
Another week, another new blog…I’m becoming pretty expert now!
The weather is MISERABLE! It seems like it’s been raining for 3 days straight and here at HO we’ve been discussing whether or not it’s worth canoeing to work…
A bit of an interesting one at DL this week…
Firstly we had some visitors pop over from across the pond to visit DL and find out more about us! The guys who had come from New Jersey, had a look around to see how we do things, and what DL is all about.
They themselves run their own attraction in Berlin (New Jersey, not Germany) called, Sahara Sam’s Oasis, which is an indoor water park with lots of slides and flumes and whatnot…
They were a very nice bunch who were very complimentary about DL and even told us to pop into the water park if we were ever in the neighbourhood. Here at HO are already planning a trip to Berlin (Again, New Jersey, not Germany).
A few weeks ago I mentioned that Channel 5 had been doing some filming on site for a new series they were producing. I can now confirm that this will be going out in 6 weekly episodes on Channel 5, from Friday 8th July at 8pm.
The show, which will be called ‘Danger- Diggers at work’, centres around the goings on of DL’s parent company HE Services. The film crew have been around for several months filming at various locations and interviewing different people to show what life in the construction machinery business is really like.
DL will be featuring in the series, as the crew spent a bit of time over at DL Kent filming various bits and pieces with Andy G. I haven’t been privy to details as to what was filmed so I’ll be tuning in myself to see what went on and to see some familiar faces!
They filmed some final shots this week in the car park and I took a sneaky shot myself…It doesn’t show much but think of it as a taster! If you squint you can see our very own Louise and Kay being ‘showbiz’…
The guys from channel 5 filming (something?!) at HO
If you have seen any Ice Road Truckers, or Eddie Stobart: Trucks and Trailers you’ll have a vague idea of what to expect. But much better obviously! You’ll have to watch and see!
Rain pretty much everywhere this weekend so Wellies out for a trip to DL. Also raincoats and umbrellas! It’ll be nice and muddy! Wimbledon starts on Monday and as we all now it brings with it the promise of bad weather but fingers crossed things improve. I did hear a rumour today of a possible heatwave at the end of June…Do we dare to hope?!
Only 3 weeks till our Summer opening!!!! I hope all of you are planning a trip to see us over the holidays. We will be working doubly hard while some of you put your feet up!
Until next time, Happy Digging!
Posted in Devon, Diggerland, Durham, Great Day Out, Kent, Things to do, Yorkshire
Leave a comment
Racing in the rain…
Welcome visitors old and new to the DL blog!
On Sunday 5th June our very own DL Mascot, Dotty, took place in the ‘Race for Life’.
The annual event took place at Eastbourne Sports Park, where Dotty and 2000 other competitors ran the 5km race to raise money for Cancer Research UK.
Dotty and her fellow fundraisers in rainy Eastbourne.
It wasn’t the nicest of days but even the pouring rain didn’t put our Dotty off her stride and she finished the race in a very respectable 55 minutes! Not only that but she was the very first mascot to cross the line!
Around £300,000 was raised a great cause that works tirelessly to help more people survive this terrible disease.
Dotty completed the 5km Race in 55 minutes.
Everyone is very proud and we’d like to say well done to Dotty and everyone else who took part in the event.
With our 7 day summer opening less than a month away now time has started to run away with us, both here at HO, and at all the DL parks. Before the holiday the whole DL team from across the country get together to discuss what’s been going on and our plans for a great DL summer. This week it was decided that we’d have to postpone our meeting because we’re so busy with special events and schools wanting to visit DL during the last weeks of term…
We are now only a couple of weeks away from our Armed Forces Day celebration. Our free tickets for DL Kent, DL Devon and DL Yorkshire have gone now but there are still tickets for DL Durham available.
This is a very important event for as we are keen to show our support for all the great work that our Armed Forces do both here and abroad. Several members of DL team have been in or have strong connections to the Forces so this day is very close to our hearts. If you are in the Armed Forces, come and celebrate with us with a free day out at DL.
DL was 10 years old last year (I know we don’t look a day over 9!) and held a big party on our birthday at each of our DL parks to celebrate. This was a great night for ourselves, our special guests and you guys! So much so that on 2nd of July we’re throwing another party as we turn 11! The party will be in the evening after DL has closed for the day. Might see you on ’Spindizzy’!?
Mayor of Castleford, Councillor Tony Wallis and his wife, the Mayorees, Mrs Doreen Wallis celebrate or 10th birthday at DL Yorkshire
Visit our Special Events page for more info or tickets. We’re all prepared for a busy but brilliant summer!
Time for my weather bit…If you’re planning a visit to DL this weekend make sure you bring your wellies! Forecasts are for rain all over the UK. (In fact the thunder is booming as I type this…eek!) As you know we love a bit of wet mud at DL…It’s the perfect condition for hard working diggers!
Hope everyone has a great week! Until next time, Happy Digging!
Posted in Diggerland, Durham, Great Day Out, Kent, Race for Life, Things to do, Yorkshire
Tagged Armed Forces Day
Leave a comment
Star of the small screen!
It’s Half Term!! Hope everyone is enjoying their time off (if you’ve had some!).
All the DL parks have been open every day this week and we’ve been lucky to have lots of lovely visitors having a great day out!
During the course of this week we’ve had a couple of production crews in filming for some different CBBC shows.
As mentioned in our last blog, on Sunday a team from ‘All Over the Place’ visited DL Kent. Louise from HO visited the park with her daughter and said that the guys had written a really catchy tune about DL which they got to lend their vocal stylings to! We can’t wait to hear it but sadly it’s a bit too late for this years ‘Britains got Talent’. You can always have a listen to our very own Diggerland Jingle in the meantime.
On Wednesday ‘Nina and the Neurons’ were at DL Yorkshire filming a special segment for an upcoming episode. Reports were that everyone had a great day and Park Manager, John, said Nina herself was a lovely lady to work with! This is for you John….
If you were at the park on Wednesday, and curious about what was going on, apologies if you were misled by John. Contrary to rumours neither Robbie Williams nor Tom Cruise were on site. Not on Wednesday anyway…
The show should air in the autumn sometime so I will keep everyone updated and let you know when it’ll be on TV!
It’s always good fun having film crews into DL filming different things. It creates a real buzz around the park and we love to show off!
Coming up in July DL will feature in a series that Channel 5 are making about our fellow company H.E. Services. The crew have been filming at various H.E. locations around the UK for the past few months so keep your eyes peeled for that one!
In the last blog I told you about the new printer that we had at HO. Everybody was VERY excited about this little snippet of news and not wanting to disappoint, behold…
It hasn’t been officially christened yet but all name suggestions welcome! Preferably along the lines of Duggy, Dotty…
We have been blessed with some great weather this week and luckily all our Dumper Racing events went ahead as planned with new champions being crowned all around the country! Congratulations to all those who took part.
This weekend looks set to be a scorcher! I’m not after a new job as a weather girl but;
Devon: 24°C
Durham: 20°C
Kent: 22°C
Yorkshire: 21°C
We’d love to see you at the park . After Sunday we wont be open for 5 whole days!
Beautiful sunny days are best spent at Diggerland and all the park staff will agree it’s much nicer working when the sun is shining!
Here at HO we don’t get to spend too much time outside but we did get an extra day off on Monday for the Bank Holiday so we can’t complain! Bring on the summer!
Until next time…Happy Digging!
Posted in Devon, Diggerland, Durham, Great Day Out, Kent, Things to do, Yorkshire
Leave a comment
We’ve only just begun…
This is very exciting! Our very first blog entry…
All of the Diggerland parks have been working hard this week getting ready for half term next week. Even when we’re closed we always seem to be manic!
This past week or so Head Office has been very busy setting up lots of adverts and special offers with local newspapers to get the word out that Diggerland will be open every day next week.
If you’re lucky enough to live up North then you might even have heard some bits and pieces on the radio on Minster FM or Star Radio, promoting the park. The guys at DL Durham and DL Yorkshire have been working extra hard to get the word out!
Staff here at HO and onsite at the parks have been making sure that the Goodie Stores are tidy and well stocked with lots of great bits and pieces for visitors to buy and take home as souvenirs. Lots of orders and deliveries going on. Although we have had a few lost couriers along the way….So many Diggerlands, so little time!
We also have a new printer! Not huge news but we get through a lot of paperwork here at HO (don’t worry we recycle!) so are very glad to have a swish new gadget that can cope with a heavy workload!
In Park news, we have had a few school visits this week. They seem to be picking up around now, the nearer it gets to the summer holidays. Once all the exams are done teachers seem to get a bit more relaxed and let the kids do fun things instead of boring work… And what’s more fun than a trip to Diggerland!?
All our Diggerland parks have got Dumper Racing events tonight and tomorrow so we hope the rain holds off – Unlike last night!
Sadly we had to call off a Dumper Racing event at DL Kent last night because the weather was terrible! A huge thunder storm erupted at about 5pm which made it a bit impossible. Luckily it’s been re-scheduled for next Thursday so they don’t have to miss out. Sure they’ll have a great time!
The weather is going to be hot this weekend (apparently!) 18 degrees at DL Devon so DL staff can leave their fleeces at home!
If you’re visiting DL Kent this weekend don’t be surprised if you see a few TV cameras around. On Sunday we have some people from CBBC Scotland coming to do some filming for the show ‘All over the place’. They’ve got some very interesting things planned and I look forward to telling you all about it next week!
Bookings for Armed Forces Day are going well and we don’t have any of our free allocation tickets left for DL Kent. We’re anticipating that it’s going to be a really great day- Fingers crossed the weather is nice. It’ll be very busy on 25th June so if you are thinking of a trip to DL please make sure you pre-book. We don’t want you to miss out.
Thanks for reading our very first blog! Let us know what you think. Until next time- Happy Digging!
Posted in Devon, Diggerland, Durham, Great Day Out, Kent, Things to do, Yorkshire
Leave a comment
