After nearly a quarter of a century, aMaizin! Adventure Park will close its gates for the final time next year.
The popular family-owned attraction in St Peter will close on 31st August 2025 when Carlton and Kristina Le Feuvre plan to retire.
aMaizin! Adventure Park attracts up to 90,000 visitors a year and currently has its highest number of park members, but the couple, who live at the former potato farm, have decided not to sell the business.
Kristina Le Feuvre said: “This has been an extremely difficult and emotional decision for us to make because we have absolutely loved the journey of growing a destination for families, creating activities and experiences, and seeing our young guests grow and flourish. But following many discussions between Carlton and I and our daughter Francesca who joined the business in 2019, we now need the flexibility to have more time for ourselves and our family. When we started the business, our children were either in or about to start primary school. They’ve now grown up and after regularly working 60-70 hours seven days a week for more years than we can remember, the time has come for Carlton, Francesca and I to put our families first.
“We love living on the farm and have no wish to sell up and move on so have made the difficult decision to close the business in its current format.”
The business will stay open through the autumn, winter and through to the end of August 2025 and there are no plans for a housing or intensive development on the site or to sell any land. Existing tenants, including the K9 Wellness Centre, will remain open once the Adventure Park closes next year, and all staff have been consulted throughout the process and are being supported while the Park continues to operate.
Kristina added: “We’ve been fortunate to spend our days with an incredibly special team of people who have become firm friends, and we have kept our team up to date with our plans. We’ll miss that camaraderie, sense of belonging and joy of doing a job that we love. We’ve never underestimated the value of our team, or the loyalty and support from our customers.”
Despite a tough few years for the visitor and leisure industries, the membership scheme is at its highest level since it began, and the park will close its doors as the second largest paying attraction in Jersey. The family are hoping that the building and land will continue to have a community feel and use as the property evolves in the future, and, subject to planning, will be looking for a less intensive use for the property.
Carlton added “We were the largest potato packing station in the west of the island at the end of the last century, and for 24 years we have welcomed many visitors. It will be nice to see the property evolve in our retirement.”
Kristina commented: “We would like to say thank you to everyone who has supported us through our journey of transforming a farm into a recreation and retail business and to our amazing staff whose hard work has made all those memorable experiences possible. After we close at the end of the summer season next year, we hope that islanders will continue to support the existing attractions and we will look on with excitement to see which new businesses start, which current businesses grow to fill the gap and what the future brings.”
