Adventure Wonderland

Adventure Wonderland was a family theme park in Hurn, near Bournemouth. It took its theme from Lewis Carroll’s novel Alice in Wonderland, with characters like Alice, the Mad Hatter and the Queen of Hearts appearing throughout the day. The park also hosted seasonal events such as Halloween and Christmas celebrations. The park began in 1971 as a pick-your-own fruit farm run by Russell Lucas-Rowe. He created a garden and maze for children, choosing the Alice in Wonderland theme because of the local connection to Alice Liddell. By the first season’s end, 54,000 people had visited, leading to the park’s expansion and the closure of the fruit farm. The site covered 20 acres with 1.5 miles of pathways and included a large octagonal beech hedge maze. Designed by Adrian Fisher, the maze opened in 1992 and had 1.75 miles of paths. It was once the third largest maze in the UK, four times the size of Hampton Court’s maze. Nearby stood Bournemouth’s Aviation Museum, sharing the land opposite the car park.