We were kindly invited to discover Kynren: The Storied Lands, a brand new expansion at the UK’s first live-action show park, which will officially be open on July 18th.
Kynren has built a world-famous night show for over a decade now, and 2026 brought in a whole host of brand new additions for guests to enjoy the park in the daytime ahead of their nighttime spectacular show.
Five live-action shows are now a part of this experience, with one being a walkthrough show-type experience alongside four sit-down open-air stage shows.
Themed stages deliver unparalleled immersion just not seen before in the United Kingdom, with Kynren delivering a well-rounded event that feels like it has been plucked out of a European theme park, with the scale and quality to match.
During our visit, the park still felt like the final touches were being added to the surrounding area, so we can certainly excuse a little pixie dust here and there whilst they’re putting the finishing touches together ahead of it opening in just under two weeks’ time, but what did stand out to me were the stages.
The craftsmanship of the stages was quite outstanding as you were fully immersed in each and every one of the new shows that Kynren has introduced for the 2026 season, which will see Kynren: The Storied Lands run from July 18th all the way up to September 12th in Bishop Auckland, County Durham.
Let’s dive into the shows, shall we?!
The Trusty Steed
The Trusty Steed show takes place on The Tribune, which is the main stage of Kynren that can accommodate 8,000 guests. This stage is home to the park’s Epic Tale of England show, which consists of 1,000 volunteers all coming together to provide one of the most immersive shows I’ve ever seen in the world, a real pride of Britain in terms of spectacle and entertainment, and one show I highly recommend.
The story revolves around a young woman whose father is taken to prison, with his final gift to her being a wild, untameable horse.
Two wounded souls come together as they learn to trust one another, and with an upcoming tournament on the way, the woman hopes to compete and earn enough to buy her father’s freedom.
What impressed me the most about this particular show was the scale of it and the horsemanship, which seems to be a recurring feature within Kynren shows as they feature in almost every show we saw that day.
Emotional storytelling combines music and voice-over (as opposed to live acting) through speakers as the actors mime their lines. Whilst this delivery of the show took some getting used to, it certainly cuts down on technology mishaps or actors messing up their lines and allows them to focus on the action, of which there was plenty.
From sword fights to circus-style acts and jousting, the show certainly had enough to keep you engaged. The Trusty Steed certainly set the bar for what we were to expect from Kynren, and considering I’d never even heard of the place until the invite hit my mailbox, I certainly felt like my hunger for more grew with each minute of the show that passed.
The story was easy to follow, and the scale was certainly impressive for a daytime show, and out of the new shows Kynren has added for the 2026 season, I certainly feel this one was up there as one of my favourites.
The Lost Feather
Can we just take a moment to appreciate the absolutely outstanding 2,500-seat arena that Kynren has built for this show? It’s absolutely outstanding and wouldn’t look out of place at an Olympic ceremony.
Themed around a bird’s nest, the arena has been purpose-built for this live bird show, which will have guests front and centre, up close and personal with some rare and majestic birds, more than 250 of them, in fact.
With an original score from the BBC Concert Orchestra, the story dives into our connection between humans and birds.
For me, this show felt like the one that needed the most work. The story seemed to drag on a little, so I felt like that just needed tightening up, but the one thing that was frustrating the audience as much as the wranglers were the stubborn birds.
During many points of the show, the birds were just refusing to fly to their perches and causing delays throughout the show, which dragged on a storyline that already felt too long to begin with.
Sadly, the unpredictability of working with birds means that this will certainly happen from time to time, and whilst it was a shame it happened, it’s something that just cannot be helped when working with live animals.
The surroundings more than made up for the delays, and the staff members were all in good spirits whilst they were wrangling a winged cast on Mariah Carey levels of diva.
A beautiful arena complemented by beautiful music certainly set the scene; they just needed their new feathered cast members to follow suit.
Land of the Vikings
Now, before you enter the Viking show, you pass through a Viking settlement where blacksmiths’ forges and craftsmanship are on display before you enter the arena, but during the media day, sadly, this area had no actors within it.
It was well themed and would certainly have been nice to see them, but no doubt due to the time constraints caused by The Lost Feather show cast of birds not adhering to our strict schedule, I feel as though this was scrapped in order to keep us moving and to keep everything on time before our Tale of England grand finale evening show.
Land of the Vikings featured a much smaller and more intimate arena that can seat 1,250 people, with a show that featured some of the best choreography I’ve seen within live shows.
Pyro effects aplenty, the story was simple but effective, and out of all the shows we saw during the day at Kynren, Land of the Vikings was certainly head and shoulders above the rest in terms of its delivery, tight story, and enthralling action sequences.
My firm favourite, and it wasn’t even close. The cast members were outstanding, and just being in that arena, so close and personal to the action, made this all the more fun. A colosseum of Viking-on-Viking brawls featuring a few epic wrestling moves along the way.
The show was one suplex away from me expecting Stone Cold Steve Austin to burst through the gates and shower the Vikings in cold beer and a can of whoop ass!
Victorian Imaginariums
Victorian Imaginariums describes itself as an immersive hedge maze where larger-than-life Victorian characters guide visitors on a journey of discovery.
How I’d personally describe Victorian Imaginariums is: unfinished.
Certainly the weakest new addition to Kynren, as the walkthrough hedge maze consisted of very little until guests are guided into an indoor area that was beautifully themed with Victorian shop facades and immersive theming.
This one building was themed outstandingly, as I believe the sets used to belong at Flambards Theme Park and have now been repurposed here at Kynren.
I was told that there would be more sets built as part of this experience in 2027, but it begs the question as to why they would open it when it was very clearly not finished (outside of the indoor section).
The characters were certainly knee-deep in their roles, executing their lines and engaging with guests in a perfect manner, but with sand and some see-through hedges as their surroundings, it’s quite difficult for me to fully invest in their act when the surroundings were so bland.
Whatever 2027 brings, I’d love for Victorian Imaginariums to consist of a very lovely outdoor garden area, but as the strongest part of the walkthrough was the indoor bit, if this could be expanded into a fully indoor walkthrough space using the gardens to complement the experience, I’d much prefer that over this, which certainly felt like it shouldn’t have been opened. The incredible cast deserve a more immersive environment to work in, which was a far cry from the rest of the stages and immersive spaces.
Legend of the Wear
As you enter the stage for Legend of the Wear, you’re presented with a beautiful lakeside, a water wheel, and quite a beautiful set as the sun shone on this newly constructed theatrical area.
With all of the arenas in the open air at Kynren, I’m not sure how much I’d enjoy these shows in the pouring rain, but on this occasion thankfully I didn’t have to worry about it. It does make me wonder why they didn’t build shelter for the audience during these epic shows; our weather isn’t exactly tropical, is it?
Legend of the Wear was a mystical show that featured stunts and special effects in equal measure. It was fun, frantic, and entertaining, and contained a storyline that, whilst fun and inclusive of a North East folklore local legend featuring the Lambton Worm (a serpent/dragon), I felt as though the grand finale was quite abrupt.
There was no big grand finale ending, as the legend could have been brought to life with the spectacle and wow factor that Kynren delivers in spades throughout their shows, but this one fell quite flat towards the end and would certainly benefit from a big audience payoff to end the show on.
After drooling at the set for what felt like an eternity, it was hard to keep up with the numerous areas of elevation across this particular stage featuring stunt falls and high-rope sequences.
It was very fun, but it certainly felt lacking in that spectacle, simply using water fountains to hint that the worm was in the vicinity as opposed to taking the opportunity to have something physically rise out of the water to give the show that extra jaw-dropping moment that sadly just didn’t appear during this show.
Time Travellers’ Feast
Kynren features a whole host of food and drink outlets to enjoy in between shows, and everything can be taken into the shows to enjoy at your leisure. I found the prices to be very reasonable, with a pizza going for between £5 and £6.50, which is very reasonable indeed, but on this occasion I cannot tell you how it tasted as they’d booked us in for the Time Travellers’ Feast, an immersive dining experience brand new for 2026.
Located in a very modern building, the Time Travellers’ Feast features live actors who welcome you into the banqueting hall where you are greeted with long tables and plenty of food delivered to your table in a banquet-style setting.
The Tudors introduce your starters, which on this occasion consisted of a range of breads and butter, olives, house charcuterie, smoked ham, terrine, and rustic pâté.
I rather enjoyed this starter, but with everyone around me being too polite to fully dig in, I took my shot and overindulged, leaving myself rather full before the mains arrived.
Presented by the Vikings, our mains consisted of beef, vegetables, and potatoes, all of which were absolutely delicious, and if you’re a vegetarian, don’t worry, there’s an entirely separate menu for yourselves too.
Dessert was introduced in Victorian regal style and consisted of some macarons, a Victorian sponge, and lemon cake, all washed down with copious cocktails and Harrogate’s finest spring water.
Now, whilst the food was rather delicious, there is a negative.
It’s £68.
For what is essentially a three-course meal in modern surroundings with a few actors doing five-minute intros for each course, I felt this was steep. Very steep.
The location wasn’t rustic nor immersive; it felt very much like a town hall with costumed actors within it. The ambience certainly didn’t feel as rustic or immersive as the characters within the space or the layout of the tables and felt disjointed the second we walked in.
It’s an experience, but the price point doesn’t match the quality nor immersion that you’d expect from a price point per person like that.
Whilst my belly was full and I was entirely satisfied with the quantity and quality of the food on offer, I just cannot sit here and recommend parting with £68 per person for that experience, but others may feel differently.
Kynren – An Epic Tale of England
The time had come for the award-winning outdoor night show that has captivated audiences since 2016, and the 7.5-acre stage came to life as 1,000 volunteers absolutely blew me away in spectacular fashion.
Our show follows Young Arthur as he travels through time, visiting various events throughout history and meeting those who helped to shape Britain along the way.
From Roman invasions to Winston Churchill, this show has it all. It’s grand, it’s spectacular, and it needs to be seen more than once to fully appreciate the scale and take it all in, as I missed so many effects the first time I feel like I need to go back and check it out all over again.
2,000 years of history come alive, and whilst it had a slow start, it ramped up and 90 minutes absolutely flew by. It’s truly an unforgettable experience featuring horses, geese, sheep, and a whole host of beautiful costumes, effects, choreography, and set design.
I’ve not seen anything like it in the UK, and perhaps the world. The scale just has to be seen to be believed.
If I had any negatives, it would be one particular part of the show where a horse is wearing a cover whilst that cover is on fire.
Now, Kynren has a long-documented history of positivity when it comes to animal welfare, with dedicated teams that look after their 39 horses, 37 sheep, goats, chickens, oxen, and a gaggle of geese, but just seeing that on stage didn’t sit well with me.
I’m sure the horse doesn’t feel it, it’s perfectly safe and choreographed, but whilst most of the other scenes involving the animals felt more like enrichment and exercise, that particular fire scene was tiptoeing a line into exploitation (in my own opinion). It’s not something that added anything whatsoever to the storyline and could easily be removed from the show.
Other than that, everything else was spot on, and the finale was the strongest of the entire event we had witnessed that day.
You can tell that The Epic Tale of England has been tweaked and perfected over a ten-year period, and I can only hope that the day shows can tighten up those stories and performances to create a payoff that, whilst not on the scale of their grand finale show, has that feel-good, beautifully finalised feel to it.
All in all, Kynren is an incredible day out, but would I visit again?
Maybe.
The reason I say this is because the day shows and the night shows are split into two payments. For adults, the daytime ticket (booked in advance) is £30pp or £40pp on the day, with children being charged £20pp or £30pp on the day.
This charge excludes the night show, which is charged separately and is an extra £30pp for adults and £20pp for children (children under 3 go free).
Now add up a full day at Kynren and it gets very expensive indeed, to the point where I don’t feel like advising adults to part with £60pp fully reflects what you see here, but it’s subjective, isn’t it?
Kynren is labelled as an immersive attraction which is somehow charging more than many of the UK’s biggest theme parks, and whilst I understand the scale, set design, and all the rest of it doesn’t come cheap, I feel as though that’s a rather premium price to pay, especially for the day shows.
The nighttime show makes sense to me. It’s a 90-minute spectacle like you’d see in any theatre around the country, and £30pp seems more than fair. The other smaller shows, for me, don’t amount to the price they’re charging, as I feel they should most definitely be in the £20 range as opposed to anything more expensive.
I’ll leave that for you to decide.
Thanks to Kynren for inviting me down to provide this open and honest review for you. It was an absolute pleasure, and your volunteers and staff are a tribute to your wonderful attraction. The expansion allows the park to push forward into a bright future, and I wish you all the best in your endeavours and look forward to returning when the Victorian walkthrough is complete and to seeing any changes within the day shows.
Thanks for having us!
BOOK YOUR TICKETS TO KYNREN HERE
