Gulliver’s Eco-Park is a second gate to this existing Gulliver’s Land theme park in Milton Keynes, an hour or so north of London. Yet unlike its neighbour and the other two Gulliver’s parks in Matlock Bath and Warrington, Eco-Park is not focused on traditional ride and attractions.

In fact, theme park purists will hate this park. A quick skim over any of the three areas that have opened thus far – Evolution, Land and Water – will reveal a relatively baron landscape with precious few rides. Yet scratch beneath the surface and there’s plenty to keep the young ones happy. Gulliver’s has always been about offering value-for-money family experiences, and this new outlet will suit the target 2 to 12-year-old down to the ground with its mix of entertainment and education.

“It’s all about harnessing our industry skills to educate,” says Gulliver’s design and development director, Duncan Phillips. “The public gets very frustrated when it sees educational attractions that are not fun. Underneath Eco-Park is a very traditional theme park footprint made up of four lands.”

Eco-Park opened May 5 after a two-year construction period and is the Phillips family’s first flirtation with the second gate concept. It could turn out could be a pretty savvy and well-timed move.

“We first thought about the concept five years ago,” says Duncan, “but now the environment is a buzz word.” Eco-Park will satisfy parent’s desire for something worthy, but by attaching the Gulliver’s name should encourage enough pester power from the kids to get them there in the first place.

“The average local family may visit Gulliver’s Land three of four times a year, but when they want another day out they’ll say they can’t go to Gulliver’s again, so we have to give them something different, something educational.”

The themes and topics explored at the new park certainly don’t do any harm when it comes to attracting school groups off-peak either. In fact, Eco-Park has appointed ex-teacher Natasha Swift as its education officer. “All the activities in Eco-Park lend themselves perfectly to aiding the teaching of the national curriculum and covering topics such as sustainability, healthy living and science. Where would you rather be – in a classroom being told about dinosaurs, or in a boat looking at one face to face?”

One of to the invited education professionals found roaming the park just after its official opening told Park World she felt certain details might have been missing but overall the concept was good.

Duncan Phillips reminds us that this is not a classroom: “The aim is not to lecture or overload with information but to have fun and entertainment at the forefront of the experience and allow that to plant its own seeds of idea’s in visitor’s minds.”

The front gate at Eco-Park is much more sober than the castle that greets guests at Gulliver’s Land nextdoor. A collection of stone and wood buildings, built using sustainable materials, surround a circular entrance plaza. A natural cooling system is used inside these buildings, which were designed by Duncan Philips himself, a qualified urban designer.

In fact, there’s a lot here that has been done in-house; it’s the Gulliver’s way. “Our manufacturing plant at Matlock has been flat out all winter, we’ve got a very talented team.”

A team talented enough to turn out the 30-plus life sized dinosaurs and prehistoric figures that appear in Eco-Park’s Evolution area, which itself has been split into three subsections: Jurassic, Cretaceous and Ice Age. Young explorers are told more about many of these creatures during the Jurassic River Ride (pictured), which like the other two boat rides in the park is solar-powered, the first time Duncan is aware that any park has used sun to drive an attraction of this kind. Other rides include the Tree Tops viewing tower and a simulator.

Young guests can get their hands dirty rummaging in the Mineral Wash, Fossil Dig and Bone Yard, three panning-for-gold style attractions. Punctuated throughout the park are various interactive exhibits and ‘feely boxes’ where visitors can touch and guess what’s inside – from animal skin to insects.

In the Land area, guests learn about vegetables, crops and recycling. All the waste from both Eco-Park and Gulliver’s Land is collected in the Recycling Centre and sorted during a live show where the audience are asked whether items should be re-used, reduced or recycled. Another boat ride affords passengers a glimpse of various crops growing, and children can pretend to cook their own food in two kitchen areas.

There’s a farm park flavour to some of the other attractions here, including the Farm House Theatre, Big Red Play Barn, Singing Vegetable Patch, Big Green Tractor Ride and Musical Farm (animated animals). The tractor ride, by SBF, together with some hand-powered carts by Zamperla, are two of only a handful of attractions sourced from outside suppliers.

Eco-Park’s final area – for now – is Water, where a picturesque lake and another boat ride are complemented by Milton Keynes’ first beach, something of a novelty in a landlocked new town more famous for its traffic islands and futuristic road system than sand and sea! Opening next year or the year after will be a fourth area, Energy.

Phase II plans for Eco-Park include a monorail linking the attraction to Gulliver’s Land, which is close enough to walk to at present. A hotel is also on the cards. Currently Gulliver’s work with four hotel groups, and their guests, who come largely at weekends, help balance things out with the business travellers that stay locally in the week.

Although both parks could easily enough be done in a day, Duncan hopes more visitors will now stay in the area overnight. “You wouldn’t really see the two parks properly if you did do them in the same day,” he tells us. “We expect that people will come to Gulliver’s and then spend an hour or two in Eco-Park at the end of their day, which will hopefully give them enough of a taste to come back in the future.”

A two-park ticket costs £15.25, with entrance to Eco-Park alone just £7.25 (€10.65/$14). This remarkably low opening price has been discounted to entice visitors, but that’s where the subsidies stop. “We’ve had no government grants, all the investment is our own. We want to prove that you can make money out of green issues.”

Duncan describes Milton Keynes, his adopted home, as a “very dynamic city.” The support of the business community there was one of the things that made him choose this location over the other two Gulliver’s sites for Eco-Park. However, he doesn’t rule out extending the franchise to Warrington or Matlock Bath when the time is right.

For the time being the Phillips siblings, Duncan, Nick and Julie, intend to incorporate some of energy and, let’s face it, money-saving techniques employed at Eco-Park into their other properties. “It’s been a voyage of discovery for us all,” reflects Duncan.

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