Manor House Wildlife Park Reveiw of Manor House Wildlife Park

jacks zoo

Well-Known Member
Manor House Wildlife Park is situated by the unique and beautifull coastal resort of Tenby, in the county of Pembrokeshire.The Park is set in landscaped wooded grounds and floral gardens surrounding an 18th centuary manor house.

Visitors enter the park through lovely old iron gates, with the parks name embossed in wrought iron above, and the gate house on the right.
on entry visitors are firstly greeted by the wallaby walkthrough enclosure on the right.Through a double gate, one can follow a circular route round this wooded paddock.My only criticism of this enclosure is that visitors were not restricted to the marked route, resulting in some small children harrassing the inhabitants! The simple addition of some ropes or a barrier would allow the wallabies to pass freely under, while keeping visitors confined to the footpath.Both Bennets and Parma Wallabies were displayed here, along with Muntjac Deer.

Past the wallaby enclosure one continues along the path a little way and we opted to take the route to the left. On the right hand side here is a paddock containing 2 reindeer. To the left mature trees and plants, and one of several water features.Following this path you eventualy arrive at the front of the large black and white 18th centuary manor house, with rolling green lawn in front.The resturant and toilet facilities are situated here.Carrying on past the house you reach a courtyard with a water feature and flower beds on the left and buildings to the right containing the gift shop, a small archway in the stone wall here is an alternative route to the back of the park.
Continuing past the shop with large stone walls to right and mature trees on left. A small archway here used to lead to the walled garden, which is currently undergoing a makeover!
Directly infont of you now is the cage for 'steve' the siamang gibbon.This is one of the older cages from the early days of the park and used to house chimps! They have made the best of this exhibit by painting the 3 walls which surround it, and adding much enrichment.Another siamang will shortly be joining the collection, and they are being moved to an island enclosure.

The path now leads round to the left with an exhibit for meerkats, porcupine and tortoise on the right, there was construction work going on in this exhibit resulting in animals being shut inside. We veiwed the meerkats through the window, i would have been interested to see how this mixed species exhibit worked? On the left is a childrens play area and sandpit and directly infont is the lemur walkthrough.There is an electric double door system in operation here (very clever) Only 1 door can be opened at a time. On entering visitors follow several circular routes around the enclosure following a bark chipped path. Again visitors were not restricted to this route but staff were always in attendance. This walkthrough is billed as 'Europes largest' but i have certainly seen bigger..cricket st thomas off the top of my head (new thread?) cont.:)
 
cont.this lemur walkthrough is very nicely done though, using many natural materials. The perimeter fence is black plastic mesh with a clear plastic overhang against tree trunks as posts. I prefer this to the use of hotwires in these cases, where visitors are not veiwing them through the mesh. It also allows the fences to become extra climbing material for the lemurs. The houses are timber with grass roofs and small holding enclosures attached. Ring tailed, Red Ruffed, B+W Ruffed, Red Bellied Lemurs on display.

On leaving the lemurs we headed back down towards the house, and through the archway previously mentioned. A small paddock here on the left contained pigs, and on the right undercover seating adjoining the back of the house. Following down.. large lawns provide ample picnic opportunitys-and the straw barn will no doubt keep kids amused for hours!

Following down to the paddocks, we follow the path round to the left past the camels + baby on left and damara zebra on the right (only 1 other uk zoo has them as far as i know) New housing has been added for the camels. The path bends round to the left with a small lake on the right, here several small islands linked together are home to common marmosets and squirrel monkeys. Very nice exhibit but houses way to small! These primates will spend up to 90% of their time indoors in the winter months in this country. More lakes and islands are being constructed to the left for the siamang gibbons. This new exhibit will be called 'valley of the apes' Im not sure if other primates will be housed here? Collabus are mentioned in the guide.

The path twists and turns a little up past the A.Bison and Emu on the right. Work has begun here on the new White Rhino Enclosure. The path loops round the bison paddock with several areas for veiwing complete with seating and information boards. Down past the bison house is a paddock with a large pool containing Brazillian Tapir and Llama.

Leaving the paddock area we followed a path up to a beautifull woodland dell with an enchanting cave grotto. A large pool here is home to Flamingos. This area may be developed for Sumatrian Tigers, we were told by staff. Leopards are also being considered? and Penguins may return to the collection in the future?:)

This a superb setting for a zoo, its established gounds give it far more character than the reletively new collections i had visited elswhere in Wales. Im sure any new developments that are sensitive to these fantastic surroundings can only compliment this park further.

PLEASE EXCUSE SPELLING :):confused:
 
It certainly doesn't sound too bad for a smaller, "family zoo". I guess the smaller enclosures are there in part because of lack of money/ignorance in the early days, but from what you say, it sounds like they're trying hard to correct this. I'll have to visit Tenby when I go to Wales again :D
 
Thanks for your detailed review of Manor House jacks zoo and all your photos of the 4 collections . My visit last September was not long after it had re-opened under the new management . It is good to hear that new developments are continuing .

Am I right in assuming that the white rhino will be in the large paddock now housing the American bison ? Not certain how suitable the ground will be as it is quite wet and could easily become poached badly .

Personally I think the dell where the flamingos live should be covered over to make a large aviary . I doubt if it is big enough for tigers though it could make an interesting leopard enclosure with plenty of climbing facilities included .
 
The white rhinos will be housed in part of the paddock now housing the bison. The dell would make a superb covered aviary, and would not spoil the landscape.

I am trying to find out more about the history of this park, i uncovered an old plaque while there marking the opening of the park in 1975.

Any information welcome, in particular prior to the williams family ownership. :D
 
Hi jackszoo,

Where will white rhinos come from?
Will they keep a bachelor grouping of surplus bulls or go straight for a breeding herd?

You mentioned on your photo thread that Sumatran tigers were contemplated for the now flamingo habitat? Any more news now on that?

Do the new owners have a plan for future development and what does it contain?

Thanx a million,

K.B.
 
I was told that the rhinos were coming from West Midlands, im not sure what the sex ratio of the group will be. The building work on the rhino accomodation is still in very early stages

I dont anymore about future developments at the park other than what i mentioned in the reveiw? i.e valley of the apes- new primate islands and rhinos will be next big development. Sumatrian Tigers, leopards and penguins are being considered for future. :)
 
I was told that the rhinos were coming from West Midlands, im not sure what the sex ratio of the group will be. The building work on the rhino accomodation is still in very early stages.

Well a wild guess here!!! ;)

Cows Zulus and Mtuba have a brother-sister relationship with the WMSP bull Sharka and probably an unrelated bull (Barney, 2005 offspring of SharkaxTootsie).

K.B.
 
WMSP have 2 bulls, one of them might go there with one, maybe 2 of their cows as they could be unrelated.
 
Oh are those 2 cows and a bull that are unrelated?
 
were there any Oryx or other antelope present during your visit?

thanks

No i didnt see the oryx, they were not marked on the park map either? They did previously have some as they were featured in the tv programme.
No other antelope species present either.
 
They had a small herd of scimitar-horned oryx for many years , I think the original stock came from Marwell . They bred regularly but probably lost as many as were born as I never saw more than 4 or 5 , but this usually included at least 1 calf . Last autumn there were 4 I think , including 1 calf , in the paddock at the top left . There was a small house but no proper hardstand so they were probably out on grass all year which I doubt would be ideal for a desert species .
 
There was a small house but no proper hardstand so they were probably out on grass all year which I doubt would be ideal for a desert species .

Couple that with the wet climate of West Wales and you probably have a good reason for high mortality. I think the young of antelope and tropical deer species succumb more in wet conditions.
 
I visited last week and was pleasantly surprised. I would agree with all of Jack’s review. The enclosures are by and large spacious and up to the standard of larger more established British zoos. There are virtually no covered areas for visitors, so don’t go on a rainy day. The new monkey islands (“Valley of the Apes”) are in a nice wooded area although the islands themselves are not very big and the indoor houses are just small sheds on the islands with no viewing possible if the monkeys don't want to come out.

Collection is almost all mammals apart from one tortoise, flamingos, and peacocks

The animals were all pretty standard small zoo creatures ie one step up from a pets corner. The rarest/least commonly seen prob red-bellied lemurs. No carnivores apart from meerkats.

Meerkats were mixed in with porcupines (including an albino porc), the meerkats were paying attention to the porcupines who appeared to ignore them.

The white rhinos are to be directly imported from South Africa, prob 2 males at first as this is the cheapest option.

The lemur walk-through is well planned although about one acre I would guess. Larger numbers of just one or two species might work a bit better.

Overall a nice way to spend a couple of hours, and the place looks miles better than it did on the TV programme when they first took it over. However I would imagine that it might lose out commercially to Folly Farm, which is only a few miles away, has lower entrance prices, a better animal collection, and broader popular appeal with a funfair

Couple that with the wet climate of West Wales and you probably have a good reason for high mortality. I think the young of antelope and tropical deer species succumb more in wet conditions.

According to our landlady Pembrokeshire has more sunshine and less rain than most of the rest of the UK!
 
Manor Park still has a long way to go before it is worth paying the entry fee that they are asking.
Anna and Colin bought the place expecting to turn it around in a very short space of time I should imagine, by now they must have realised that this is not going to be the case.
However the park has a lot of potential so best of luck to them!
 
The Cafe

Manor House Wildlife Park is situated by the unique and beautifull coastal resort of Tenby, in the county of Pembrokeshire.The Park is set in landscaped wooded grounds and floral gardens surrounding an 18th centuary manor house.

Visitors enter the park through lovely old iron gates, with the parks name embossed in wrought iron above, and the gate house on the right.
on entry visitors are firstly greeted by the wallaby walkthrough enclosure on the right.Through a double gate, one can follow a circular route round this wooded paddock.My only criticism of this enclosure is that visitors were not restricted to the marked route, resulting in some small children harrassing the inhabitants! The simple addition of some ropes or a barrier would allow the wallabies to pass freely under, while keeping visitors confined to the footpath.Both Bennets and Parma Wallabies were displayed here, along with Muntjac Deer.

Past the wallaby enclosure one continues along the path a little way and we opted to take the route to the left. On the right hand side here is a paddock containing 2 reindeer. To the left mature trees and plants, and one of several water features.Following this path you eventualy arrive at the front of the large black and white 18th centuary manor house, with rolling green lawn in front.The resturant and toilet facilities are situated here.Carrying on past the house you reach a courtyard with a water feature and flower beds on the left and buildings to the right containing the gift shop, a small archway in the stone wall here is an alternative route to the back of the park.
Continuing past the shop with large stone walls to right and mature trees on left. A small archway here used to lead to the walled garden, which is currently undergoing a makeover!
Directly infont of you now is the cage for 'steve' the siamang gibbon.This is one of the older cages from the early days of the park and used to house chimps! They have made the best of this exhibit by painting the 3 walls which surround it, and adding much enrichment.Another siamang will shortly be joining the collection, and they are being moved to an island enclosure.

The path now leads round to the left with an exhibit for meerkats, porcupine and tortoise on the right, there was construction work going on in this exhibit resulting in animals being shut inside. We veiwed the meerkats through the window, i would have been interested to see how this mixed species exhibit worked? On the left is a childrens play area and sandpit and directly infont is the lemur walkthrough.There is an electric double door system in operation here (very clever) Only 1 door can be opened at a time. On entering visitors follow several circular routes around the enclosure following a bark chipped path. Again visitors were not restricted to this route but staff were always in attendance. This walkthrough is billed as 'Europes largest' but i have certainly seen bigger..cricket st thomas off the top of my head (new thread?) cont.:)

When I went in the summer it was raining, not surprisingly. Four cups of tea in the cafe £10.00. Rip-off Britain strikes again.:mad:
 
According to our landlady Pembrokeshire has more sunshine and less rain than most of the rest of the UK!

Pembrokeshire might indeed have its own microclimate but for me its still in West Wales which is usually Wet in my opinion.
 
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