Identify this 80s UK dinosaur park

[DinoToyForum]

Here are some photos of a dinosaur park my parents took me to in the UK (or maybe France) in the early 1980s. Do any of our older members recognise it? The chalk cliffs in the background are distinctive, but I don't know if they are real. The large pylon and power cable running across are also notable. It could be Blackgang Chine on the Isle of Wight, but I can't find any pictures online that actually match.




That's little me, my mum and my sister in the photos. My parents can't remember where it was.

[Protopatch]

St Agnes Wonderland in Cornwall maybe ?^^

PS I stumbled upon some pictures of that park's former dinosaurs section on the internet, showing a similar backdrop.

[ceratopsian]

No idea I'm afraid.  But you had obliging parents!

[DinoToyForum]

St Agnes Wonderland in Cornwall maybe ?^^

PS I stumbled upon some pictures of that park's former dinosaurs section on the internet, showing a similar backdrop.

Yes, that's it! Good sleuthing!   I asked my mum and she said we did go to Cornwall, when she was pregnant with my little sister, and she's pregnant in the photos. Plus, the pictures I've found online of St Agnes Leisure Park / Wonderland are a perfect match! For example, there's a Flicker group for it: https://www.flickr.com/groups/stagnesleisurepark/ Here's one of their photos:

1970s St Agnes 001a_C by Kernowfile, on Flickr

According to that group, the park opened in the 1960s as a model village, and 'The Lost World of the Dinosaurs' was added later along with other sections, and the whole site closed in the 1990s. The site was then used for a short-lived film studio, South West Film Studios, which was derelict in 2013. Probably it has been demolished by now and the site repurposed again.

[DinoToyForum]

One thing I notice is that the large T. rex is standing up in the 1970s, but in the 1980s, when I visited, it's lying on it's side with spears in it, the victim of cavemen hunting! More likely, it got knocked over in a storm or something and they couldn't fix it, so they reused it as prey, an approach @Blade-of-the-Moon is familiar with for his park!

[Halichoeres]

Whew, thank goodness for those tall, sturdy fences!

I assume by the time you went here your paleo obsession was already in full swing?

[DinoToyForum]

Whew, thank goodness for those tall, sturdy fences!

I assume by the time you went here your paleo obsession was already in full swing?

It was probably the reason we went.