They haven't actually got Elephants yet or built the enclosure, though it is planned...
It is a very strange mixture of a Farm, with some large converted barns and other enclosures for the exotic species and as ZG said, some very large Play areas for children.. I have never come across anywhere like this before, and that's apart from the religious aspect.
in which way is it a dump? From photos it may have a few dodgy bits here and there but on the whole (and leaving aside the religious aspect) it looks no worse than many other UK collections that are rated well here.
in which way is it a dump? From photos it may have a few dodgy bits here and there but on the whole (and leaving aside the religious aspect) it looks no worse than many other UK collections that are rated well here.
When I visited (and this was some years ago now) what set it apart from, say, Hamerton (to pick a similarly 'functional' and broadly topographically similar zoo) in terms of visit experience were two things.
One was just its all-pervading agricultural atmosphere - quite hard to sum up, but this is definitely a farm first and a zoo second. And it doesn't feel right somehow. Part of this manifests itself in the little finishes here and there, things that aren't in themselves a problem but taken as a whole are rather unsatisfactory. It's been a long time since my visit, but these recent photos do not convince me that this has changed.
The other is the ghastly anti-scientific 'educational' material. At least Hamerton or Exmoor are not emblazoned with signs declaring humans aren't related to apes and evolution is a myth and then receiving school visits. The prayers and suchlike I've nothing particular against (though the wording is hilariously over-sincere and rather comical) but some of the assertions on the 'information' signs really annoy me. The word 'zoo' derives from 'zoological (garden)' - and the zoology at this place is fundamentally undermined by their creationist stance.
The other factor against it for me (and I'm not going to pretend this is anything other than personal bias on my part) is that it is deliberately trying to poach visitors from (what I consider to be) the far superior zoo at Bristol. Not just by being there (which would be fair enough), but by the choice of slogans such as 'where the BIG animals are' clearly aiming at Bristol's perceived shortcomings. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
in which way is it a dump? From photos it may have a few dodgy bits here and there but on the whole (and leaving aside the religious aspect) it looks no worse than many other UK collections that are rated well here.
