‘We’re the fossils now,’ say retiring owners of Tenby Dinosaur Park | UK News

After more than three decades making memories for generations of children, the owners of Tenby’s Dinosaur Park have decided to retire.

Amanda and Simon Meyrick set up the popular Pembrokeshire attraction in 1994 and its daily running has been their lives ever since.

Currently on the market for £4.5m, the couple are hoping whoever buys it will keep it going and put their own Jurassic-style spin on things.

Amanda, 62, said: “We’re the fossils now and we want the chance to make some memories of our own before we get too creaky.”

The park, which remains open for business as usual while a new owner is sought, has 36 rides and activities along with more than large-scale 90 dinosaurs – some fibreglass, some animatronic.

The site attracts more than 60,000 visitors a year.

But, as Simon explained, establishing themselves was something of “a slow burn”.

“My family has had a working dairy farm on the site for generations and we wanted to do something else with the surrounding land,” said the 60-year-old former commercial surveyor.

“Me and Amanda used to live in Norwich and there’s a dinosaur park there that we took inspiration from.

“Figuring that everyone loves a T-Rex, we just thought we’d give it a go ourselves.”

So, utilising nearby fields and some woodland, the couple took about a year to get the park up and running.

“In the early stages it was just a couple of dozen model dinosaurs and a playground, but it evolved from there,” said Amanda, who left her job as an agricultural software trainer to become a full-time prehistoric reptile wrangler.

“We never thought much beyond that point, and the number of visitors really didn’t start growing until year three.

“We certainly didn’t it expect it to be as successful as it’s become, or to even still be here all these years later.”

This year has seen the demise of Wales’ largest theme park Oakwood, also in Pembrokeshire, which shut down after almost 40 years in March.

And, just this month, the iconic Coney Beach Amusement Park in Porthcawl, a coastal fun fixture for over a century, closed its gates for the final time.

“Somehow we’ve managed not to fall by the wayside,” said Simon, whose family sold the dairy farm not long after the pandemic, making the theme park the couple’s main source of income.

“I guess kids will always be nuts about dinosaurs.”

Visiting the West Wales attraction has left an indelible mark on many childhoods, the couple said.

“Our daughter was at a trade show in Manchester just the other day when a complete stranger came up and told her how much they loved coming to the dinosaur park when they were little,” said Amanda.

“It’s made a lot of memories for lots of people through the years, but now me and Simon want to make some of our own.”

She added: “The time is right to retire and do a bit of travelling while we still can.”

And will it be hard to give up the day-to-day running of the park?

“It’ll certainly be a bit of wrench, but we’ll just have to re-adjust.

“Even now we’re still planning events, like our upcoming Halloween Spooktacular, which will have a bunch of animatronic dinosaurs dancing along to the Harry Potter theme.

“I mean, dinosaurs and Harry Potter at the same time? The kids are going to love that.”