The refurbishment of Lollipoppet Castle

Most of you who have been in the park recently, will have noticed that Lollipoppet Castle is under a shroud and wrapped in scaffolding. The whole structure is undergoing a total head to toe refurbishment to restore it to its former glory. It’s all part of our £1m refurbishment programme we have undertaken to deliver by the end of 2026. If we have to put a price on it, it would be more like half a million.

Lollipoppet was originally built back in 1987 as a medieval castle and included the King & his Queen along with many royal Jesters and of course the mythical figure of Merlin the Magician, right out of the court of King Arthur.

After 13 years of hard service the king and Queen retreated from their castle as it fell into ruin! They retired to their country estate while we carried out the work.

Sadly for them, in 2000 the castle was rebuilt into Lollipoppet Castle and became the new home of The Lollipoppet’s and the King, Queen and their entourage were no more. The Lollipoppets are little people who built their castle out of sweets and distant relatives of the Borrowers from the 90’s. As proof of the their mastery of sweets, the castle has gorgeous smells wafting throughout and some of the flavours you will detect are Liquorice, Mint, Chocolate, Caramel & Tuti Fruity

On the completion of this first phase of refurbishment, we are planning to reopen the castle for the summer holidays in mid-July. We will likely need to close it again to continue the phases 2/3 refurbishment works after the summer.

Maintaining and upgrading the park and the rides is something we invest heavily in every year and while you may not always be able to see it (who notices a new roof?) but rest assured it’s going on around you. For example, did you notice the huge upgrade we are completing to the walls and roof of Monkey Mischief? It’s now more sheltered from the rain and a much nicer place to hang out with our monkey friends. (can you see what we did there?)

This is how it looked originally

So what work are we actually carrying out?

The Current Plan (Phase 1)

This accounts for most of the major structural work and before we reopen in Mid-July for Summer Holidays this will include:

– At the moment we are repairing, stripping every roof and turret to ensure that the castle is water tight for another 40 years.
– The whole of the castle will be repainted externally and looking fresh.
– Replacing the external windows that have begun to rot with brand new hand made frames.
– Starting the 1st phase of a new drainage system to replace the existing soak aways that are not as effective as they should be and prevent any further local flooding in that area.
– We will connect this to the main dyke and run to the castle ready for Phase 2)
– Replace & Rewire old electric circuit and install more sustainable LED lighting
– Remove scaffolding
– Replant existing flower bed at entrance to the castle

And this is where are at now

(Phase 2) September works reopen for October half term

– Now that all the scaffolding is out the way we can install new drainage system to take away heavy rainfall and connect into the drainage system from Phase 1.
– Once the drainage has been completed we will be replacing all the old block paving with a fresh new design and more complimentary colour tone.
– Replace/ Repair damaged concrete paths around the external area of the castle where Required.
– Starting to repaint in the interior walls of the castle.

(Phase 3) November onwards into January shutdown period and completed by Feb half term reopening 2026

No more castle closures but a small section may be closed to continue. We will also:

– Continue with internal painting.
– Redressing existing scenes with new props and renewed versions of the existing sets
– Complete any external pathways if not finished by Phase 2.
– Reduce the gradient on the bridge as guests enter the castle for improved accessibility.

Phase 4

Enjoy a beautifully reconstructed castle!