Visited for the first time on Saturday (crazy as it's only an hour away). I won't do a review but some general comments.
* Firstly - loved it. It is a great gem of a zoo with a nice mixed collection of standard zoo animals (lions, giraffe, zebra, wolf, white rhino, bactrian camel, humboldt penguin, SC otters, meerkat) and some oddballs/rarities (sifaka, wolverine, gundi, clouded leopards, belted ruffed lemurs). Some of them were first time sightings for me. Place reminded me a bit of Jersey (walled garden) + Newquay/Exmoor (wooded bits) with a dash of more typical zoos like Bristol/London. I can understand now why I have only ever heard positive noises about CWP in the past.
* There must be just as many garden staff as keepers in order to maintain the gardens. Lots of succulents and cacti (how they cope with English winters?). Exceptional, and I go to alot of National Trust/English Heritage properties. Even a tomato collection...
* Favourite spp - rock hyrax in the indoor exhibit in the cafe. Perfect spp, very active youngsters! Sifaka clear second choice.
* Favourite exhibit - Madagascan exhibit. Nice mix of spp in well planted enclosure.
* Cannot comment re: reptiles and inverts as we ran out of time (daughter's birthday and everything that entails). Will need to go again!
* Although not commonly mentioned as a point of interest on ZC, but thought the wooden treehouse/fort in the playground was magnificent. Multilayers, very fun - difficult to extract said child and friend from.
Definitely recommended.
Also note re: white storks. Didn't see any signage about reintroduction (could have missed it), but we were surprised by the number of individuals.