- Uswitch.com reveals the best family-friendly eco-attractions in the United Kingdom, ranking each attraction out of 100
- The attraction ranking in first place, with 71 points, is GreenWood Family Park based in Gwynedd, Wales
- The second-best eco-friendly attraction is Pensthorpe Natural Park in Norfolk, with a score of 64 out of 100
- Wildwood Trust in Kent, ranks third with a total score of 53 points out of 100
- A quarter (24%)[1] of all analysed reviews praised the attractions’ eco-conscious factors, such as educational information and sustainable ethos[2]
- Find out how you and your family could be more eco-friendly by reducing your personal carbon footprint with the Uswitch Carbon Footprint Calculator
The summer holidays can often be overwhelming for parents who don’t know where to take their children for a fun-filled family day out, so Uswitch.com, the comparison and switching service, have analysed the best eco-friendly attractions for parents and children to enjoy.
Uswitch.com experts scraped TripAdvisor reviews for eco-friendly attractions in the UK[3], monitoring keywords and phrases that reflect having a great family visit[4]. Over 34,000 four and five-star reviews were analysed, with six categories to determine a family-friendly eco-friendly attraction – Enjoyability, Family compatibility, Food availability, Affordability, Conservation and eco-friendly components and Cleanliness[5].
Table 1: The UK’s eco-friendly attractions, ranked
| Rank | Attraction | Location | Percentage of reviews mentioning keywords and phrases in each category | Final Score | |||||
| Enjoyability | Family- friendly | Food availability | Affordability | Eco-friendly components | Cleanliness | ||||
| 1 | GreenWood Family Park | Gwynedd | 78% | 73% | 80% | 5% | 38% | 14% | 71 |
| 2 | Pensthorpe Natural Park | Norfolk | 64% | 53% | 79% | 4% | 56% | 8% | 64 |
| 3 | Wildwood Trust | Kent | 53% | 47% | 63% | 4% | 76% | 5% | 53 |
| 4 | The Eden Project | Cornwall | 43% | 27% | 63% | 7% | 23% | 3% | 40 |
| 5 | The Living Rainforest | Berkshire | 40% | 38% | 56% | 4% | 52% | 4% | 37 |
| 6 | Centre for Alternative Technology | Powys | 42% | 32% | 59% | 2% | 24% | 6% | 35 |
| 7 | Markshall Estate | Braintree | 42% | 27% | 64% | 4% | 20% | 6% | 35 |
| 8 | National Botanic Garden of Wales | Carmarthenshire | 48% | 24% | 70% | 3% | 20% | 5% | 35 |
| 9 | The Royal Botanic Gardens | London | 38% | 18% | 56% | 4% | 21% | 3% | 20 |
| 10 | Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh | Edinburgh | 26% | 11% | 43% | 1% | 15% | 2% | 6 |
Source: Uswitch.com
GreenWood Family Park in Gwynedd scored the highest of all the attractions with 71 points out of 100. This is no surprise since the park is home to two spectacular attractions: the world’s first people-powered rollercoaster, and Wales’s longest sled run.
The park’s Enjoyability factor was notable, with three quarters of reviews mentioning how fun (78%) or family-friendly the park is (73%), and even more favoured the quality of food (80%).
Norfolk’s Pensthorpe Natural Park scored 64, awarding itself second place in the eco-attraction rankings.
Four-fifths of reviews (79%) praised the quality of food, while over half (53%) cited the family-friendly nature of the attraction. In line with this, over three-fifths (64%) applauded the park for its fun factor.
The Park gained a mediocre score on affordability, with 4% of reviews showing negativity towards the cost of the attraction.
Table 2: The top-scoring attraction for each category analysed
| Category analysed | Top scoring attraction | Location | Percentage of reviews relating to the category |
| Enjoyability | GreenWood Family Park | Gwynedd | 78% |
| Family-friendly | GreenWood Family Park | Gwynedd | 73% |
| Food availability | GreenWood Family Park | Gwynedd | 80% |
| Affordability | The Eden Project | Cornwall | 7% |
| Eco-friendly components | Wildwood | Kent | 76% |
| Cleanliness | GreenWood Family Park | Gwynedd | 14% |
Source: Uswitch.com
Wildwood Trust, formerly known as Wildwood Discovery Park and located in south-east England, is ranked as the attraction with the most eco-friendly components, with over three-quarters (76%) of reviews mentioning this factor.
Overall, a quarter of reviews (24%) for all the attractions combined mentioned eco-friendly and conservation efforts made by the sites – and a further quarter (24%) noted the family-friendly elements of the attractions.
Uswitch encourages anyone interested in how eco-friendly their household is to find out their personal carbon footprint and read tips on how to lower it using the Uswitch Carbon Footprint Calculator.
Sarah Broomfield, energy expert at Uswitch.com comments: “The relatively high numbers of reviews regarding how eco-friendly the attractions are show that visitors are mindful of where they like to spend the day with their families.
“It is great to see that a majority of these eco-friendly attractions live up to their status and are excelling in customer satisfaction.
“It is unfortunate, however, that eco-friendliness seems to come at a cost; affordability is low-ranking for these attractions, which is not ideal for those with large families or low incomes.”
Find out how you could save nearly £1,000 a year with Uswitch here.