Small UK trip

Stefan Verhoeven

Stefan Verhoeven

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
In 10 days I will spend my holidays in the UK. I will go to some friends, and will spend the rest of the days with visiting zoos and hiking in National Parks.

I will enter thru the tunnel via Dover and will visit friends in London, Birmingham and near Swansea.
After reading all the stories about the place, I know for sure I will visit Chester Zoo after my visit to friends in Birmingham.
And probably I also visit Slimbridge and Cotswold Wildlife Park (a friends works there). Also Snowdonia NP and Brecon Beacons NP looks beautiful for a hike. I still have some days free, so if you have any ideas I am open for advice. Or if you know better places to visit than Snowdonia NP and Brecon Beacons NP, I will be happy to hear ;)

Thank you all in advance!
 
You can't go wrong with Snowdonia and the Brecon Beacons - two of the most stunning national parks in the uk. However, they do get busy, especially this time of year, so an early start is essential.

Most people who go to Snowdonia head straight for mount Snowdon. However, I'd recommend going a little further north to the Ogwen valley. Here, you've got mountains such as Tryfan, Glyder Fawr and Carnedd Llewelyn all of which you can walk up and around, and all have wide open scenery just as breath-taking as Snowdon but are a lot less busy.
 
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Obvious suggestion - but if your in London and have spare days, then London Zoo and/or Whipsnade?
 
London Zoo and/or Whipsnade
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What would be your preference if you could choose one?
For myself I prefere the more special zoo species, and I like to observe and photograph the animals (also the regular ones) so unobstructed views would be nice.
 
If all will works out, I will be visting several places the upcoming days.
Planned are:
- Chester Zoo
- London Zoo
- Cotswold Wildlife Park
- Crocodiles of the world
- Cotswold Falconry Centre
- Slimbridge WWT
And in between some visits to National Parks and friends.
 
Nice choices.

Now that you're a zoochatter Stefan, we expect a full 120 page review of each place you visit. ;):D

Or just a few words on your thoughts/impressions will do instead :)


Enjoy your trip.
 
Added Port Lympne today to the list.
Positive points:
-Impressive spacious enclosures
-Nice big 'family' groups of all kinds of species
-Some very special species
-Welfare of the animals seems to come first
-Quiet successful with breeding a variety of animals
-No big crowds around every enclosure, because there is so much ground to cover
-Commercially smart with all the overnight places and golfcarts. Not cheap but people seem to enjoy
-People really like the safari drive
'Negative' points:
-Enclosures are not always easy for visitors to overview, especially the cat enclosures appeared to be empty, because it was impossible to find the animals
-I wasn't really fond on the safari drive. I always hate it when I cannot decide for myself how long I can watch an animal. And al the movement of the safari bus wasn't positive for photography
-Directions are not always clear and I had the feeling that I missed some spots, but also that there were a lot of loops that made it easy to miss on an enclosure or to see the same one more than once. Or is it just me and my sence for direction :D
-In general a difficult zoo for good photography. A lot of wire, or a moving safari truck or just not really visible species.

Overal, a nice place for the animals, some very interesting species and breeding results. But for my other hobby (photography) a frustrating place.
 
Visited Chester Zoo yesterday.
This time I start with the "negative" points, because it will be a long list:
- Expectations were unbelievably high
- The indoor enclosure of the chimps was small
- The tropical hal was (like many of this kind of places) infested with mice and cockroaches
- The weather was not ideal ;) and some places had a wet floor from me drooling :p
- And...... Nothing else....

What a wonderful place!
- Beautiful exhibits, lush green spacious and many mixed species exhibits. I cannot say what my favorite exhibits was, there are sorry many. But the ones that are in my mind: Giant otter, mixed exhibit of silvery gibbon and Sumatran Orangutan and two toed sloth with aquarium.
- The themes of the areas were clear but not too much in your face. The animals and the exhibits were the masterpieces, not the fake facades that sometimes can steal the Thunderbird.
- The animals looked great, only have seen one bird with ruffled feathers but still in good health, that's it.
- Many interesting species and several very interesting species. Also a broad range of animals.
- I think I was able to take some nice photos
- I think I have send some inspiration to some zoo vet friends, and some friends with very exotic private collections how some enclosures could be and what animals can be mixed.
- Also some books about zoos and animals that were not only for children in the gift shop.

Allthough expectations were extremely high, it is indeed a great zoo. I enjoyed every minute!
 
Todays visit was ZSL London Zoo.
It has been raining cats and dogs today and due to circumstances I had a bad night, so my judgement could be a bit clouded.
Positives:
- Nice range of animals, from stick insect to giraffe, from zebrafinch to Komodo dragon
- Some special species: several Cyprinodon spec., Lake Patzcuaro salamander, Philippine crocodile, blue-crowned laughing thrush, Aye-aye and others.
- I liked the idea and setup of B.U.G.S.
- Loved the architecture of the old penguin enclosure
- Liked the food they served :D
- Bought another book for my collection
Negatives:
- Many empty exhibits (especially reptiles, fish and birds)
- The available space at the zoo is not in optimal use for the animals. A lot of dead space or planted areas without animals on/in it. I was maybe expecting it to be more packed due to space limitations like many other old city zoos.
 
London Zoo is one of the oldest,so much of the old buildings are listed,ie protected,and are awaiting renovation or reassignment.


If you are going to visit Snowdonia and have a car,it may give you the opportunity to go to a small family zoo on Anglesey,PILIS PALAS NATURE WORLD (perhaps a 1hr in and out?),and a small Aquarium,ANGLESEY SEA WORLD. You have the WELSH MOUNTAIN ZOO,a little north,at Colwyn Bay,BODAFON FARM PARK,just north of Colwyn Bay (this is free,although mainly farm animals and deer,it has a bird of prey ''ie owls'',collection) and an Aquarium in Rhyl. BORTH WILD ANIMAL KINGDOM,is south,at Borth,but it has had a bad rep in the past! I have not een to any of these yet!

Birmingham has a fairly nice small zoo,just a few miles,from the city centre,BIRMINGHAM WILDLIFE CONSERVATION CENTRE. Well worth an hour or two.

Down south England. if you do go to the CROCODILES OF THE WORLD,outside Crawley,also pop into TILGATE NATURE CONSERVATION PARK,set in a pretty woodland park just a few miles from town.

But the itinery is up 2 u
 
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Eric said:
London Zoo is one of the oldest,so much of the old buildings are listed,ie protected,and are awaiting renovation or reassignment.


If you are going to visit Snowdonia and have a car,it may give you the opportunity to go to a small family zoo on Anglesey,PILIS PALAS NATURE WORLD (perhaps a 1hr in and out?),and a small Aquarium,ANGLESEY SEA WORLD. You have the WELSH MOUNTAIN ZOO,a little north,at Colwyn Bay,BODAFON FARM PARK,just north of Colwyn Bay (this is free,although mainly farm animals and deer,it has a bird of prey ''ie owls'',collection) and an Aquarium in Rhyl. BORTH WILD ANIMAL KINGDOM,is south,at Borth,but it has had a bad rep in the past! I have not een to any of these yet!

Birmingham has a fairly nice small zoo,just a few miles,from the city centre,BIRMINGHAM WILDLIFE CONSERVATION CENTRE. Well worth an hour or two.

Down south England. if you do go to the CROCODILES OF THE WORLD,outside Crawley,also pop into TILGATE NATURE CONSERVATION PARK,set in a pretty woodland park just a few miles from town.

But the itinery is up 2 u
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Crocodiles of the world is nowhere near Tilgate, it is in Oxfordshire , Tilgate is in Crawley, West Sussex! At least 2 hours away at a guess!
 
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Eric said:
If you are going to visit Snowdonia and have a car,it may give you the opportunity to go to a small family zoo on Anglesey,PILIS PALAS NATURE WORLD (perhaps a 1hr in and out?),and a small Aquarium,ANGLESEY SEA WORLD. You have the WELSH MOUNTAIN ZOO,a little north,at Colwyn Bay,BODAFON FARM PARK,just north of Colwyn Bay (this is free,although mainly farm animals and deer,it has a bird of prey ''ie owls'',collection) and an Aquarium in Rhyl. BORTH WILD ANIMAL KINGDOM,is south,at Borth,but it has had a bad rep in the past! I have not een to any of these yet!
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Personally, Welsh Mountain aside (which is okay but far from "must see" ore the best the UK has to offer) he'd be better off going back to Chester or spending an extra day in Snowdonia. All of the other places mentioned are so obscure and inconsequential I'd wager less than 10% of UK Zoochatters have bothered visiting (cue loads of posts telling me they've visited and how it was really worth the effort or tumbleweed:D).

As always, other opinions are available and each to their own but, Welsh Mountain Zoo aside, I could easily find fifty other zoos in the UK I'd rather spend my petrol and time on.
 
If heading up north and if you're into nature Argyll Forest and Loch Lomond worth a walk and climb the Cobbler where you will see Pine Martin in the woodland, as well as often see Golden Eagles at the top of the Cobbler. (Will be labelled as Ben Arthur).

On the way up a trip into Lakeland Wildlife Oasis, Lake District Wildlife Park and Blair Drummond Safari Park is worth a trip. You could easily cover over 2 to 3 days , doing the first two on your drive up (both 1hr to 2hr visits and only 50 minutes apart) and then go to Blair Drummond the following morning before a visit to Scotlands most beautiful National Park (cracking Sea life centre there too).
 
Zooreviewsuk said:
On the way up a trip into Lakeland Wildlife Oasis, Lake District Wildlife Park and Blair Drummond Safari Park is worth a trip. You could easily cover over 2 to 3 days , doing the first two on your drive up (both 1hr to 2hr visits and only 50 minutes apart) and then go to Blair Drummond the following morning before a visit to Scotlands most beautiful National Park (cracking Sea life centre there too).
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Previously mentioned by original poster as likely places to visit:

- Chester Zoo
- London Zoo
- Cotswold Wildlife Park
- Crocodiles of the world
- Cotswold Falconry Centre
- Slimbridge WWT
- Port Lympne (added/visited later)

Spot the difference? :D Are you on commission?
 
Shorts said:
Previously mentioned by original poster as likely places to visit:

- Chester Zoo
- London Zoo
- Cotswold Wildlife Park
- Crocodiles of the world
- Cotswold Falconry Centre
- Slimbridge WWT
- Port Lympne (added/visited later)

Spot the difference? :D Are you on commission?
Click to expand...

Always wise to try and prevent people from stepping foot in Wales if they can ;)
 
@Zooreviewsuk You can't prevent me from visiting Wales, but nice try :p
@Eric I will keep it in mind, but due to unforseen circumstances the Snowdonia visit could possibly be cancelled. And if so, I will stay in the South of Wales.

Cotswold Wildlife Park
Positive:
- Nice little zoo, with lots of space and beautiful gardens
- Some nice species especially in the birds department, but why they keep lama and ostrich on the large plots of land when you enter is not clear to me. Species I liked were Pallas cat, clouded leopard, black curassow, crowned sifaka, african openbill, Madagascar teal, blue-throated piping guan, grey mouse lemur and some others.
Negative:
- Swap the lamas and ostrich for more interesting species
- Signs with information about the species could be a bit more informative
 
Crocodiles of the World
Positive:
- Specialist collection with some rare species
- Nice new enclosures outside with some other animals than crocs
- Thru the viewing glass you can closely encounter the animals
Negative:
- Some waters we a bit green and with debris, but I know when fed regularly, crocs can make a big mess of the water quickly
 
pipaluk said:
Crocodiles of the world is nowhere near Tilgate, it is in Oxfordshire , Tilgate is in Crawley, West Sussex! At least 2 hours away at a guess!
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Thanks. That's what I get for relying on a friend stating 'Oh its just around the corner'. without checking the facts before I posted.Sorry!
 
Cotswold Falconry Centre
Positive:
- Another specialist collection with again some nice species and breeding results
- Nice flight show with lots of information but also some fun
- Good atmosphere
- Clean enclosures
Negative:
- As a specialist collection, if you don't like birds of prey, there is nothing else. But this doesn't go for me :)
 
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