It only seems like yesterday that we threw open our doors on Good Friday, 1989.

Since then a lot of water has passed under the bridge but the memories are still fresh.

The nervous anticipation…would anyone come? Would they be happy with what we’d managed to put together?

Would people pay £1 for an adult or 75p for a child to look around a farm?

When we shut our gates at the end of the day. there was £100 in the till.

We were delighted and could see a path to the survival of the family business.

Over the past 30 years, millions of people have passed through our gates and without them we wouldn’t have been able to grow and prosper; to invest money back into the farm, adding new buildings, shops, restaurants and playgrounds.

Without them we wouldn’t have been able to create so many new jobs.

Many of those early customers have become friends.

We’ve seen children who visited us all those years ago grow up and have families of their own.

It’s lovely to see generation after generation passing through our gates reminiscing about how things were back in the first few years.

Our aim has always been to create lasting memories by providing the perfect family day out.

Thousands of people have worked here over those years.

Some really special people who have made a huge contribution to what we do here and added expertise in areas where we didn’t have much, passed on wisdom and put us on the right path; given us friendship and companionship through both good and bad times.

We just want to say a massive thank you to all those people who have made our life so much more fulfilled.

Some of them are no longer with us but it’s with heartfelt gratitude that we remember all those who’ve contributed to our journey.

Thank you for walking alongside us and thank you for sharing the load.

It’s been a blast and we look forward to the next 30 years – and another generation of customers, friends and workmates.