Best Zoo in Each Region of England

Fallax

Fallax

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
England can be divided into nine statistical regions, and I was curious what ZooChatters think is the best zoo in each of these as it could be a fun discussion!

The regions are the following:
  • North East
  • North West
  • Yorkshire and the Humber
  • East Midlands
  • West Midlands
  • East of England
  • London
  • South East
  • South West
I imagine London and North West will have the most consensus, but no idea for the rest!
 
Here's a helping hand for people to start with the regions of some well known collections:
  • South West: Paignton, Bristol ZP, Noah's Ark ZF, Newquay, Exmoor
  • South East: Marwell, Howletts, Port Lympne, Cotswold WP, Wingham WP
  • East of England: Colchester, ZSL Whipsnade, Hamerton, Banham, Africa Alive
  • London: ZSL London (funnily enough)
  • North West: Chester, Blackpool
  • East Midlands: Twycross
  • West Midlands: Dudley
  • Yorkshire and the Humber: Yorkshire WP
Also, just wondering if this encompasses safari parks/other zoological collections or not?
 
For me.

North East - Can't answer as I don't know the area or collections well enough.
North West - Chester
Yorkshire and Humber - Yorkshire Wildlife Park
East Midlands - Twycross
West Midlands - Can't answer as I haven't visited but I suspect Dudley or West Midlands Safari Park.
East of England - Whipsnade
London- London
South East - Cotswold Wildlife Park
South West - Paignton currently, I expect Bristol Zoo Project to overtake it at somepoint as they develop though.

Good zoos aren't exactly balanced across regions are they? The North East and East Midlands have limited options. The East of England, South East and South West have multiple contenders.
 
North East:
As of yet I have not been round any of the zoos in the area although technically I have been to one: Kirkley Hall Zoo. I went on a day it was closed, which was not specified and the doors were wide open. I only managed to see a couple of enclosure before the cleaner informed me the zoo was indeed closed. :D

North West:
This will likely be a very popular consensus but Chester every day. Arguably the best zoo in the UK with a large and varied species inventory, new enclosures and developments always in the works. What's not to love about it?

Yorkshire & The Humber:
Although Yorkshire has many (more than I thought to be frank) collections, Yorkshire Wildlife Park takes it. A relatively new collection that has expanded greatly since it only being a small farm park less than 20 years ago. A great array of large mammal species set within expansive enclosures. However, personally the only thing letting the collection down is the lack of birds, herps and well anything that pretty much isn't a large and impressive ABC mammal.

East Midlands:
I have only visited two zoos within the area and that is Twycross & Peak Wildlife Park. Both in my personal opinion are nothing spectacular and although were a good day out I won't be rushing back. I personally found Peak too petting zoo esq (I visited before the polar bears arrived :D) but with recent arrivals of larger species I'd be excited to see how the collection changes with me seeing a very similar situation to Yorkshire WP potentially occurring. Twycross I found quite unloved (although some parts I particularly enjoyed) and lots of enclosures under refurbishment with not a great deal to see. I'm optimistic with the recent developments that Twycross will only get better.

West Midlands:
I am still yet to visit this area for zoos so I cannot possibly comment although on my radar for visiting are Dudley, WMSP & Birmingham SeaLife.

East of England:
Again, not an area I've visited much but the cake goes to Hamerton. A small collection but incredibly diverse in terms of species particularly ones from down under.

London:
ZSL London Zoo of course. I throughly enjoyed my first visit last spring. Although the collection is a shadow of its former self in terms of species, I still found the collection strong although not without a few flaws. I feel the space in Regent's Park should be utilized fully to make use of the small space the zoo inhabits.

South East:
Whipsnade Zoo takes it given it is one of very few collections I have actually been to down there. The collection ticks the boxes for all sorts of different species on show. I do feel however, many of the birds that sit BTS, with the occasional outings for the species in the show should be brought on show, maybe in the construction of a large walkthrough aviary?

South West:
Personally, it has to be either Exmoor or Newquay Zoo. My visits this spring and autumn 2022 respectively were both throughly enjoyable and both had such interesting arrays of species. I do seem to enjoy my visits to smaller species rich collections far more than larger collections.
 
Maybe Whipsnade should be included as London as it is a ZSL zoo, then it and Colchester can deservedly win! Don't know how Cotswold qualifies as south east either? Surely fairer to lump in middle England with west and east midlands.

Wouldn't bother with Yorkshire and Humber and north east either lump as one
 
Last edited:
pipaluk said:
Maybe Whipsnade should be included as London as it is a ZSL zoo, then it and Colchester can deservedly win! Don't know how Cotswold qualifies as south east either? Surely fairer to lump in middle England
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For the record these are easy

North west Chester
Yorkshire. YWP
South West Exmoor
London - Whipsnade
East - Colchester ( Hamerton possibly)

Controversially I will go Port Lympne for South East, anything north of London can't be classed as south east surely?
 
pipaluk said:
Maybe Whipsnade should be included as London as it is a ZSL zoo, then it and Colchester can deservedly win! Don't know how Cotswold qualifies as south east either? Surely fairer to lump in middle England with west and east midlands.

Wouldn't bother with Yorkshire and Humber and north east either lump as one
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In terms of which zoos should be classified in each region, I searched google for a map of the 9 regions as I was unfamiliar with their existence, and one map showed the counties included in each region (Not sure if how the regions are split is objective but it seemed that way from the similarities in the maps I found). The zoos I listed in each region I worked out which region each was in according to these maps rather than my subjective opinion of where I judged them to be relatively.
 
The Office of National Statistics does actually have a definition for each of the regions so they can be compared for statistical analysis. They are mostly defined by counties, although two counties (North Yorkshire and Lincolnshire) are split across regions. Where counties are split they are defined by local authority area.

The definitions are:

North East
County Durham
Northumberland
Tyne and Wear
North Yorkshire (partial) - Stockton on Tees, Redcar & Cleveland and Middlesbrough local authority areas.

North West
Cheshire
Cumbria
Greater Manchester
Lancashire
Merseyside

Yorkshire and the Humber
East Riding of Yorkshire
South Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
North Yorkshire (partial) - North Yorkshire and York unitary authority areas.
Lincolnshire (partial) - North Lincolshire and North East Lincolnshire unitary authority areas.

East Midlands
Derbyshire
Leicestershire
Northamptonshire
Nottinghamshire
Rutland
Lincolnshire (partial) - The seven local authority areas not covered by Yorkshire and the Humber.

West Midlands
Herefordshire
Shropshire
Staffordshire
Warwickshire
West Midlands
Worcestershire

East of England
Bedfordshire
Cambridgeshire
Essex
Hertfordshire
Norfolk
Suffolk

London
The 32 boroughs of London.

South East
Berkshire
Buckinghamshire
East Sussex
Hampshire
Isle of Wight
Kent
Oxfordshire
Surrey
West Sussex

South West
Bristol
Cornwall
Devon
Dorset
Gloucestershire
Somerset
Wiltshire
 
Rajang-GOAT said:
In terms of which zoos should be classified in each region, I searched google for a map of the 9 regions as I was unfamiliar with their existence, and one map showed the counties included in each region (Not sure if how the regions are split is objective but it seemed that way from the similarities in the maps I found). The zoos I listed in each region I worked out which region each was in according to these maps rather than my subjective opinion of where I judged them to be relatively.
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Fair enough, maybe Oxford is classed as south east by some but I reckon the whole of the midlands and The area between that and London should be classed as one, probably Whipsnade should be in that if it doesn't count for London, Bedfordshire is not really east Anglia
 
Personally:

South West: Paignton
South East: Cotswold WP (it kills me not to put Marwell)
East Of England: ZSL Whipsnade
London: ZSL London Zoo
North West: Chester (Duh)
North East:
East Midlands: Twycross
West Midlands: WMSP
Yorkshire:
 
HelloCrossy67 said:
South East: Cotswold WP (it kills me not to put Marwell)
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It feels wrong on a cellular level to include Cotswold as part of the SE. Mainly because as a proud Hampshirian anything above Reading is far enough away to be 'north'. Marwell really should be the best anyway, even including the Aspinall collections, and maybe 15 years ago it comfortably was. Hopefully some day soon it will be again
 
NMM said:
Good zoos aren't exactly balanced across regions are they? The North East and East Midlands have limited options. The East of England, South East and South West have multiple contenders.
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I agree that the latter 3 regions are the strongest, but out of them, I think there is a strong argument that East of England is the strongest, with Colchester and Whipsnade as well as Hamerton, the ZSEA parks, Hertfordhsire (PWP), Jimmy's Farm, along with smaller collections like Linton and Shepreth, as well as Woburn Safari to top it all off.
Maybe NW is the 4th place region with Chester, Blackpool and Knowsley Safari?

For the regions I feel qualified to make an at least tentative judgement on (I have only visited more than one zoo in one region, and haven't visited places like ZSL London):
  • North West: Chester- probably the most obvious pick given it is often regarded as one of the best zoos in Europe, let alone the UK.
  • East Midlands: Twycross- Despite its faults, it seems it is on a gradual upward trajectory with some big plans, as well as previous large scale projects over the last decade that have turned out fairly successful and impressive as exhibits.
  • East of England: Colchester- This is probably the closest out of all 9 regions, but one area where Colchester has the advantage over Whipsnade is how visits would be affected by cold/wet weather and the negative impact it would have, but these are indeed two very different collections that are hard to compare.
  • London- ZSL London- This is made easier by the lack of other prominent zoos in the area (unlike South East, South West, and East of England), but I think London is still very solid for what it is and the position it is in as a product of its history, and is hopefully on another steady upward trajectory.
 
pipaluk said:
Fair enough, maybe Oxford is classed as south east by some but I reckon the whole of the midlands and The area between that and London should be classed as one, probably Whipsnade should be in that if it doesn't count for London, Bedfordshire is not really east Anglia
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Yes - Bedfordshire, and thus Whipsnade and Woburn, hardly feels to me as though it is in the east of England.
And Cotswold in the south east..?
This is all very arbitrary...
 
It is always going to be arbitrary, but somewhere a decision has to be made. There will always be some places that have a case for being in multiple regions and whatever decisions are made there will be people who disagree with it.

One odd one to me, is that Hampshire doesn't sound right in either the south west or south east as it is the middle county of the 7 along the south coast. Unless you create a south central region though it has to go in one of them.
 
NMM said:
It is always going to be arbitrary, but somewhere a decision has to be made. There will always be some places that have a case for being in multiple regions and whatever decisions are made there will be people who disagree with it.

One odd one to me, is that Hampshire doesn't sound right in either the south west or south east as it is the middle county of the 7 along the south coast. Unless you create a south central region though it has to go in one of them.
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I would argue Hampshire, Wiltshire, Berkshire and more of those central counties should really be included in that separate South region you suggest. In that case, I'd argue Longleat (if we're including Safari Parks) is the best, if not then Marwell certainly.

Anything to get Marwell a win :D
 
Just a few for me working by the region splits used by the ONS.

  • North East - haven't visited any zoos in this area
  • North West - Chester - the primary zoo on many lists I suspect it would make top in the country for many people, so well deserved for a region
  • Yorkshire and the Humber - YWP by a head
  • East Midlands - Wouldn't really say any of the collections stand out across the region, though have enjoyed visiting lots of places, however wouldn't choose one in particular. Twycross is alright and some of the others offer a good day out
  • West Midlands - Perhaps Peak, on balance, the red squirrels and the polar bears in particular are a treat but Dudley would be equal really. If forced to choose I'd go Dudley.
  • East of England - Whipsnade - one of my favourite places, zoo or not, but there are some great collections and places to spend time in the region from Hamerton to Jimmy's to Africa Alive and Banham as well as Linton and Shepreth
  • London - London zoo, rather inevitably though I am an infrequent visitor
  • South East - CWP - just a lovely place to spend the day
  • South West - Bristol - love the bear wood, Noah's Ark is also an interesting place
 
cerperal said:
I would argue Hampshire, Wiltshire, Berkshire and more of those central counties should really be included in that separate South region you suggest. In that case, I'd argue Longleat (if we're including Safari Parks) is the best, if not then Marwell certainly.

Anything to get Marwell a win :D
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Yes - and all you have to do is look on a map and see that Cotswold is very clearly NOT in the south-east of England, anymore than Whipsnade is in East Anglia.
East/west - Burford is about as central as you can get.
 
ZooNews2024 said:
Yes - and all you have to do is look on a map and see that Cotswold is very clearly NOT in the south-east of England, anymore than Whipsnade is in East Anglia.
East/west - Burford is about as central as you can get.
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Those regions have actual definitions though, as given above. It's not a compass direction to help you find the place, it's a region of England with defined boundaries. Look at the regions drawn on the map and Burford lies in the one that is in the south-east - that's all it's saying.

Moving the boundaries around seems to take the fun out of the question for me - like many such discussions, the restrictions are part of the interest.

Mind you, living in the East Midlands takes some of the fun out as well. :D
 
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