August Summer Specials ☀️🚢

In addition to normal Sunday opening, Freshspring organised a series of three summer specials on Tuesdays in August 🎈 with activities aimed at attracting families and children during the summer holidays.

The Tuesdays were a great success, attracting a total of 484 visitors 👏 over the three days. A quarter of these were from local EX39 postcodes 📍, just over a quarter from other parts of Devon, and just under half from the rest of the UK and international. Visitors came from the Netherlands, Canada, and Australia 🌍.

The most popular day by a long way was the Pirates theme day 🏴‍☠️. Flags and bunting decorated the foredeck, visitors were encouraged to dress up (hats were provided for those who didn't have one 🎩), there was face painting and the ship band played shanties adding to the festive mood.

Our steam day 🚂 was also very popular, with a visit from the restored Sentinel Steam wagon ‘The Lion’ making a nostalgic trip from Kent back to Bideford. A small traction engine provided steam rides in the car park, and the steam launch Duet attracted much attention 👀.

On all days, the teddy bear hunt 🧸 proved to be a very popular attraction. Children explored around the ship seeking out the bears before sitting quietly to watch the Virtual Reality (VR) experience 🥽 of life on the steam ship Freshspring. VR also allows those who can't get up and down the ladders to see around Freshspring.

As one mother said on leaving: "thank you so much for organising this 🙏. With the age difference between my children it's difficult to find something that interests both, but the two of them really enjoyed the visit." 💙