Kalaw
Well-Known Member
Jimmy's Farm & Wildlife Park Review (23rd August 2025)
Jimmy’s Farm, officially known as ‘Jimmy’s Farm & Wildlife Park’ is a name that has risen to prominence in the UK zoo scene in recent years. Founded in 2003 by pig farmer Jimmy Doherty, the farm’s initial goal, as I understand it, was to use modern free range meat production practices with a selection of rare pig breeds. Over the years, Doherty has featured in various BBC documentaries which detail his life as a farmer, as well as his condemnation of the industrial techniques used for making processed foods. His friendship with the very popular English chef, Jamie Oliver, helped boost his popularity. In 2016, he became the youngest ever president of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust. That same year, the farm acquired tapirs and meerkats, receiving its zoo licence and adopting the ‘Wildlife Park’ moniker. It joined BIAZA in 2019.
The real star turn though, which put the place on every zoo enthusiasts’ radar, was the acquisition of Polar Bears. In 2023, with Orsa Rovdjurspark in Sweden sadly closed down, and one of their female Polar Bears was rehomed to Jimmy’s Farm who had spent several months building Europe’s largest facility for the species. Rather controversially among zoo enthusiasts, the move was branded as a rescue mission as though the bears weren’t already living in a world-class facility over in Finland; however there is some truth to the claim, as Orsa’s animals were threatened with euthanasia should homes not be found, and it has worked in winning people over based on the comments I heard from fellow visitors. In the huge and expensive project, ‘the Lost Lands of the Tundra,’ a single rescue Polar Bear from Orsa was later accompanied by two other females from Yorkshire, along with a Brown Bear also from Orsa, Arctic Foxes, non-subspecific Grey Wolves (white and branded as ‘Arctic’ of course), Reindeer and Red-breasted Geese. This brought a lot of very welcome public attention to Jimmy’s Farm, which appeared on the news and on various viral social media videos; a particular cause of discussion that I’ve seen is the fact that the bears are visible out of the window during the train ride from London to Ipswich.
Speaking personally, the Polar Bears are indeed the only reason that I decided to visit Jimmy’s Farm. My first time seeing the species was at La Fléche in 2019, an unforgettable experience, enhanced by the enormous size of their male and the excellent underwater viewing. 2019 also brought me my first koalas at Longleat and my first pandas at Beauval, equally memorable encounters, but the difference is that by the second time I saw each of those species, with the novelty having worn off, I didn’t find them particularly interesting. No such remark can be made about Polar Bears, which have been equally as amazing on the occasions that I’ve been fortunate enough to see them since La Fléche, with the exception of Hagenbeck due to the blatant stereotyping of their male in his tiny grotto coupled with the walrus in front that overshadowed them. Jimmy’s Farm would mark my fifth time seeing Polar Bears, with all five instances at different collections in different nations (France, Scotland, Germany, Czechia and now England), and the night before my visit, I was hardly any less excited to see them as I was in the Loire Valley six years ago.
Now onto the visit itself...
Getting from London to Ipswich is extremely straight forward, with regular trains from Liverpool Street getting you there in an hour (it actually goes past the zoo and with a bit of luck, you have a four second window to see the bears and wolves). That is where the issue arises, with (quite bizarrely given Jimmy's increasing commerical appeal and good marketing) an obvious lack of any bus routes to the zoo. As such, we resorted to a taxi, which was a steep £13 each way, but made it very quick to get there. A lot of Londoners either don't own cars or chose not to use them for day trips with how hard it can be to get out of the city; with how easy it is to get from London to Ipswich, I feel as though Jimmy's, or perhaps the town council, is really missing a trick by not providing a daily bus service from the station to the zoo.
The first thing I noticed was that the zoo itself makes up only a portion of Jimmy's Farm. Between the area signposted on the map as 'entrance' and the point where you pay zoo admission are several shops, a restaurant, and some distant fields with pigs and massive Suffolk Punch horses. Thankfully, the zoo allows you to leave and re-enter so long as you keep your receipt, so it is possible to eat at the farm restaurant half way through your zoo visit, which I did. The only other zoo I've seen to operate such a policy is Shaldon, and I really like it. I also saw free-ranging guineafowl and peafowl, which with how many zoos have abandoned this practice due to the increasing threat of avian influenza got me very excited, until I realised that they must have been pinioned. The zoo also doesn't hand out paper maps, and instead suggests you download the app or take a photo of one of the big boards; the game's gone.
The first enclosure you see is for Six-banded Armadillo, who have the most extensive outdoor area I've ever seen for them, covered in burrows and sand. Cute as ever. Beyond the first of many large paddocks for domestics and Darwin's Rhea was the Brazilian Tapir enclosure, which I thought was excellent. Pools in tapir enclosures are, thankfully, becoming more common, but Jimmy's took it a step further with several smaller streams, puddles and mud wallows peppered across this very dense and hilly enclosure. And, if the tapirs did want a larger, grassier space, then I'm lead to believe that they can access the rhea paddock next door. This is probably the best tapir enclosure that I've ever seen.
Various domestic goats, donkeys and llamas benefit from nice hilly paddocks where children were seen feeding them. I'm fine with farms selling feed to give to domestics, but I don't see what stops visitors from feeding it to exotic animals whose diets may not benefit from hand feeding. There are signs advising you not to do it, but more irresponsible parents may not say much should their kids wish to. A family member that I was visiting with claimed they saw a family doing this with the Arctic Foxes later in the day, but they were gone by the time they got to the enclosure; hopefully this, and similar shocking behaviour, doesn't cause any health complications. There is a big but boring lawn for Bactrian Camels followed by a lovely Barbary Macaque enclosure seen from a bridge. One half is your standard macaque lawn, whereas the other features a nice pool and a gorgeous cluster of very tall trees and bushes. In theory, monkey paradise, but I couldn't help but feel as though it's wasted on a species like the Barbary Macaque which, from my personal experience, is a bit more terrestrial than its relatives; I could be wrong, but I think there are other more arboreal monkeys that would be a better fit.
There is a huge field for Grant's Zebra as well as Common Eland, a lovely antelope taxa which I don't see enough nowadays with Whipsnade keeping them no more. It extends into a valley at the bottom with a big body of water overgrown with reeds; by this point, I was already noticing a very welcome trend of overgrown enclosures with good water sources. Just beyond this was the entrance to the project that put the zoo on the map, 'the Lost Lands of the Tundra.' As is typical of British zoos though, it wasn't overthemed, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, though the lack of any coherency or evidence that the area you're in is supposed to be presented as one continuous exhibition was slightly more disappointing. Bar one or two signs about the tundra biome and the presence of the bears, there was no evidence that I was approaching the reason I came here. This is perhaps best exemplified by the Reindeer enclosure, which is tucked away in a corner of the playground, their stables besides a coffee shop, and you can't get to their enclosure from the rest of the tundra exhibit without passing guinea pigs and ruffed lemurs. One of the reindeers had unbelievable antlers, as tall as the rest of its body. A sign informed me about a very interesting fact that I didn't already know (quite rare at zoos): reindeers have awful eyesight, so locate one another by listening to the clicking sounds made by their leg tendons sliding over bone. After some patience, I heard this myself.
Now moving onto the reason I came to Jimmy's: the Polar Bears. The zoo keep four, with Ewa being the initial 'rescue' from Orsa, another two females from Yorkshire WP, and a fourth from Peak WP. All of them are absolutely stunning animals. Polar Bears are almost too good to be true; you take an animal like a bear that is already amazing, then make it bigger, a brighter colour, and able to swim. It is also ridiculously fluffy with a demeanour not dissimilar to that of man's best friend, but it would rip you apart if given the chance. I came here to see them, and they did not disappoint. I could usually see at least three of the four at any given time from the central vantage point, mainly sitting down in their signature dog-like position which they seem to do more than any other bear. Two of them in particular rarely ever left each other's side - I'd assume these are the females from Yorkshire and have developed a bond over the years. They spent a great while foraging in the long grass for something, though I'm not sure what it could have been (perhaps just sniffing, which would be very dog-like!). Ewa sadly spent most of the day pacing, which the zoo claims she has done since her Orsa days and is a result of her stressful upbringing at a Dutch zoo where she'd repeatedly fought with her neighbour and had to be separated as a result. However, she was the only bear to go for a swim at any point, and watching her dive in head first and then shake herself dry was a highlight, as was seeing one of the other bears rear onto its hind legs in excitement as a keeper readied to feed her.
Now for the enclosure. This claims to be the biggest Polar Bear reserve in Europe, which I must say I found hard to believe in person (Highland’s looked a lot bigger), but it’s true. Per Google Earth, the larger paddock is 2.3 hectares (5.7 acres), the smaller one is 0.75 (1.9), and according to the zoo themselves there is a further 2 (5) of woodland; however, a local told me that the bears and wolves rotate for access to the woodland, explaining why I couldn’t see any evidence of the bear paddock connecting and why the wolves were invisible all day. Like all four British zoos with Polar Bears, it looks a little industrial with no underwater viewing. Between its very basic shape, the lack of trees and the excessive wires, it really isn't the prettiest enclosure. But for the bears, it's enormous, has three pools (each allegedly deep per the zoo's website), some nice enrichment and a lot of dens, as well as an indoor area which is supposedly ventilated. And you can imagine how amazing it is when they are given access to the woodland. It really is a woodland, with tall and mature trees with smaller shrubs creating a dense labyrinth where it would be all but impossible for visitors to find the bears should they want to use it. It also offers shade, which the zoo claims reduces the temperature massively and helps with comfort. Great enclosure, but with one big problem: you're almost always looking down at the bears, making their size less appreciable. The top of the larger paddock, which they went to at one point to eat near the end of the day, is level with the guest viewing, but that's it.
There are also Grey ('Arctic') Wolves, in an enclosure behind the two bear paddocks that you are always at least fifteen metres from. This is because Jimmy's lets dogs in, which can transmit certain diseases to wolves. Presumably as they were using the woodland, I didn't see any during the day, though right at closing time one came out to be fed, and heading back to London that evening, I saw three out the window of the train. A triangular enclosure in the middle of the raised viewing for the bears is signed on the map for foxes, but actually held pinioned Red-breasted Geese. I would find the Arctic Foxes later in the woodland section - adorable, with one very lively and the other much sleepier, in a nice wooded enclosure, a serious upgrade on what I assume was their older one (the geese). I've now seen this species twice (here and at Highland) and both times they were in their summer coats; hopefully I'll be able to see their famous white coats one day.
Beyond the lemurs and guinea pigs is a really nice coati enclosure with a tall tree, something that I've only seen in continental zoos like Burgers' and Prague. There is also the Reptile House with its attractive entrance archway, bookended by two aviaries for fairly common species, like macaws, kookaburras and domestic geese. The Reptile House is a greenhouse, which I always like, but compared to other such exhibits that are heated and daylit (the old one at Bristol, for example), I thought there was a big missed opportunity with the lack of open enclosures, and there was a lot of unused space. In general, it's a fairly generic house.
There are two exceptions which definitely caught my eye: the Common Snapping Turtle pool, shared with some goldfish and very attractively overgrown, with this dangerous chelonian unsettlingly well camouflaged; the other was the Leafcutter Ant enclosure, which of all the various creative displays I've seen for this species is probably the best. The ants collect their leaves from the snapping turtle enclosure and then climb across about a quarter of the building's perimeter, starting on some very high rope and then going into glass tubes which line the crocodile enclosure. I didn't even notice it at first, but held onto the tubes while craning my neck for a better view of the crocodile and suddenly startled myself with the realisation that there were ants on my hand. Speaking of the crocodile, a Morelett's, the enclosure is a bit small and sparse, with an interesting design wherein the pool extends underneath the land area. Thankfully, they will receive a bigger enclosure soon in the Butterfly House. Though it was small, I loved the little coral tank by the entrance and thought it was nicely done. The huge Boa Constrictor was cool too. The zoo also does a 'Meet the Reptiles' talk where they put a lead on an iguana and let people stroke it. Nearby were Dwarf Zebu, one of which let me stroke its distinctive hump, which was fun. I expected it to be very soft as it is mostly a fat reservoir, but it was actually quite dense.
After leaving for my (delicious) lunch in the barn and restaurant and re-entering, I went to see the Capybara enclosure, shared with more pinioned geese. Much like the tapir enclosure, it was exceptional and gave the animals full access to a large pool and many reeds and areas of overgrowth to vanish among. There were also babies, which were adorable. The exquisite quality of this enclosure, coupled with that of the tapirs opposite, made me wonder why the ex-camel enclosure next door is marked as a future home for their South American animals. The Giant Anteater and mara enclosure, which was quite small and didn’t have anywhere outdoors for the anteaters to hide, probably merited this redevelopment a little more. You pass over the anteater enclosure with a bridge which I partly hoped looking at the map would be an anteater walkthrough, though of course there is a very good reason that no such thing exists!
The winding path through the woods that followed was very steep and had very few enclosures to admire while ascending, with the exception of a really pleasant enclosure for Northern Raccoons (though based on my previous observations of the species’ climbing ability, I’m surprised by the rather casual fencing). There was a second enclosure here that looked unoccupied to me, but per the news thread, it's home to foxes of some description. At the top of this is Diego’s Wood, home to another bear from Orsa, a European Brown named Diego. This is probably one of the best Brown Bear enclosures that I’ve ever seen, providing plenty of cover, wooded portions, climbing apparatus, a small pool and dens, scattered enrichment items, and an absurd amount of space. However, I couldn’t help but feel as though they should have used the much larger and more extensive woodland behind. There are many trees in the enclosure, but most of them are too flimsy to support a bear climbing, with one or two exceptions which in and of themselves make this enclosure better than most others that I’ve seen; even still, compare it to Bristol and consider that the zoo has access to enough woodland necessary to create such an enclosure, and I’d like something a little better. It’s odd, because if the zoo didn’t have a huge and empty forest behind, I wouldn’t have a bad word to say against it as it’s a truly excellent enclosure, and yet I felt underwhelmed. I could see Diego, eating behind a bush.
Nearby is the Rare Breeds Farm, which is the onshow portion of Jimmy’s extensive collection of rare breeds. The map suggests it was once far larger, but in the present day, it is only really pigs, all featuring many piglets, being very attractive breeds, and living in large enclosures with thin wires separating different breeds that are just about invisible. The other portion of the farm is now an enormous construction site for what is rumoured to be the lions or tigers from Chessington, which is phasing both species out. While I was checking the ZooChat news threads ahead of my visit (the only spoilers that I allow myself before visiting a zoo for the first time), I saw mention that this construction site is enormous, but I still wasn’t prepared for quite how vast it is. For each of the tigers and lions, this will surely be one of the biggest enclosures for them in the country, possibly the biggest once safari parks are excluded. Huge mounds are being created and then planted on, so there will be a very undulating landscape, and some rudimentary dens and climbing structures have already been created. A sign suggests the area will be India-themed.
At this point, I returned to the Polar Bears, and realised there was one part of the zoo I was yet to see: the Butterfly House. On the other side of the big lawn with the playground from the reindeer, and adjacent to the Reptile House, are a pair of identical and connected greenhouses which form the Butterfly House; one of these isn’t part of the main walkthrough though, consisting of the lemur indoors and the future crocodile enclosure. The exhibit begins with a small aviary for Red Fodies and Red-footed Tortoise, as well as the indoors for the Ring-tailed Lemurs nearby; with how many zoos keep their lemurs in indoor areas that are as good as glorified cardboard boxes, to see a large one with plenty of foliage, climbing platforms, and natural sunlight and heating from its greenhouse setting was really refreshing. The butterfly side of things is a bit less impressive: on my first circuit, I saw a single Blue Morpho and thought this must be the worst-stocked butterfly house in existence. I returned later and saw a few more, which was nice, but I don't think I caught glimpses of more than a dozen and even that required an awful lot of patience. A nice building, but it really could do with some more butterflies! Adjacent is a nice enclosure for Meerkats and African Spurred Tortoise.
On that note, I’d just about seen all of Jimmy’s Farm, and spent the last hour-and-a-half watching the Polar Bears. They’re endlessly captivating, but I don’t need to tell you about that. As soon as Jimmy’s got the species in 2023, I checked how easy it is to get there by transport, but concluded it was too challenging; what didn’t occur to me is that it is extremely easy to get from London to Ipswich, and from there it is a simple matter of getting a taxi. The real problem it turns out is price: £25 for admission, £26 in total for a round trip on a taxi, plus food, train fares, and the small bus fares to get across London. Jimmy’s Farm is not an especially big or interesting zoo in general, and three years ago that wouldn’t have been worth it. But now they have Polar Bears, and they are worth every penny. For that reason alone, it is not a matter of ‘if’ I would like to visit again, but ‘when?!’ The answer is probably once the South American and Indian developments are done for a little bit more novelty, but to be honest a bit of me wants to come back sooner than that. I grew up with Polar Bears feeling like a fantastical rarity, with only one UK zoo keeping them, later two, but with them all seeming just too far away. Now, for the first time in decades, a zoo in the South of England has Polar Bears, and I want to make it count by going there as much as possible.
Polar Bears aside, Jimmy’s Farm isn't mind-blowing. There is a lot that is good: the best tapir enclosure I’ve seen; the most exciting Leafcutter Ant display I know of; a great capybara enclosure; one of the nation’s exemplary Brown Bear enclosures; some lovely and hard-to-come-by mammals such as Arctic Foxes; a certain charm and eccentricity to it by virtue of it being originally a rare breeds farm and still very much embracing that monicker; a solid macaque enclosure; some of the biggest and best hoofstock paddocks around, particularly where domestics are concerned; and lemurs with an actual indoor area, not a gloomy box. Something that I'm yet to mention but definitely deserves praise is the exceptional standard of signage! But there is also a lot that is less good: way too many pinioned birds for my liking, and not enough aviaries; the emptiest butterfly house that I’ve ever seen; a couple of cramped vivariums in the reptile house; a pretty bad anteater enclosure; a lot of walking in the woods with no enclosures which feels like a burden when all I really want to do is look at Polar Bears. All of this is okay, because every zoo in the country has its flaws, and Jimmy’s is actually trying to improve a lot of them with various renovations throughout the zoo. A lot of what I just said is the sort of nitpicking that I wouldn't have bothered about a few years ago. I really, really liked the place, but I do think that ultimately it is just a slightly more charming, more attractive version of the average medium-sized zoo in a rural area that you could find anywhere in the UK. But then again, it has Polar Bears.
All in all, a really enjoyable visit. I look forward to seeing what the future holds for Jimmy’s Farm and hopefully returning one day soon.
Jimmy’s Farm, officially known as ‘Jimmy’s Farm & Wildlife Park’ is a name that has risen to prominence in the UK zoo scene in recent years. Founded in 2003 by pig farmer Jimmy Doherty, the farm’s initial goal, as I understand it, was to use modern free range meat production practices with a selection of rare pig breeds. Over the years, Doherty has featured in various BBC documentaries which detail his life as a farmer, as well as his condemnation of the industrial techniques used for making processed foods. His friendship with the very popular English chef, Jamie Oliver, helped boost his popularity. In 2016, he became the youngest ever president of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust. That same year, the farm acquired tapirs and meerkats, receiving its zoo licence and adopting the ‘Wildlife Park’ moniker. It joined BIAZA in 2019.
The real star turn though, which put the place on every zoo enthusiasts’ radar, was the acquisition of Polar Bears. In 2023, with Orsa Rovdjurspark in Sweden sadly closed down, and one of their female Polar Bears was rehomed to Jimmy’s Farm who had spent several months building Europe’s largest facility for the species. Rather controversially among zoo enthusiasts, the move was branded as a rescue mission as though the bears weren’t already living in a world-class facility over in Finland; however there is some truth to the claim, as Orsa’s animals were threatened with euthanasia should homes not be found, and it has worked in winning people over based on the comments I heard from fellow visitors. In the huge and expensive project, ‘the Lost Lands of the Tundra,’ a single rescue Polar Bear from Orsa was later accompanied by two other females from Yorkshire, along with a Brown Bear also from Orsa, Arctic Foxes, non-subspecific Grey Wolves (white and branded as ‘Arctic’ of course), Reindeer and Red-breasted Geese. This brought a lot of very welcome public attention to Jimmy’s Farm, which appeared on the news and on various viral social media videos; a particular cause of discussion that I’ve seen is the fact that the bears are visible out of the window during the train ride from London to Ipswich.
Speaking personally, the Polar Bears are indeed the only reason that I decided to visit Jimmy’s Farm. My first time seeing the species was at La Fléche in 2019, an unforgettable experience, enhanced by the enormous size of their male and the excellent underwater viewing. 2019 also brought me my first koalas at Longleat and my first pandas at Beauval, equally memorable encounters, but the difference is that by the second time I saw each of those species, with the novelty having worn off, I didn’t find them particularly interesting. No such remark can be made about Polar Bears, which have been equally as amazing on the occasions that I’ve been fortunate enough to see them since La Fléche, with the exception of Hagenbeck due to the blatant stereotyping of their male in his tiny grotto coupled with the walrus in front that overshadowed them. Jimmy’s Farm would mark my fifth time seeing Polar Bears, with all five instances at different collections in different nations (France, Scotland, Germany, Czechia and now England), and the night before my visit, I was hardly any less excited to see them as I was in the Loire Valley six years ago.
Now onto the visit itself...
Getting from London to Ipswich is extremely straight forward, with regular trains from Liverpool Street getting you there in an hour (it actually goes past the zoo and with a bit of luck, you have a four second window to see the bears and wolves). That is where the issue arises, with (quite bizarrely given Jimmy's increasing commerical appeal and good marketing) an obvious lack of any bus routes to the zoo. As such, we resorted to a taxi, which was a steep £13 each way, but made it very quick to get there. A lot of Londoners either don't own cars or chose not to use them for day trips with how hard it can be to get out of the city; with how easy it is to get from London to Ipswich, I feel as though Jimmy's, or perhaps the town council, is really missing a trick by not providing a daily bus service from the station to the zoo.
The first thing I noticed was that the zoo itself makes up only a portion of Jimmy's Farm. Between the area signposted on the map as 'entrance' and the point where you pay zoo admission are several shops, a restaurant, and some distant fields with pigs and massive Suffolk Punch horses. Thankfully, the zoo allows you to leave and re-enter so long as you keep your receipt, so it is possible to eat at the farm restaurant half way through your zoo visit, which I did. The only other zoo I've seen to operate such a policy is Shaldon, and I really like it. I also saw free-ranging guineafowl and peafowl, which with how many zoos have abandoned this practice due to the increasing threat of avian influenza got me very excited, until I realised that they must have been pinioned. The zoo also doesn't hand out paper maps, and instead suggests you download the app or take a photo of one of the big boards; the game's gone.
The first enclosure you see is for Six-banded Armadillo, who have the most extensive outdoor area I've ever seen for them, covered in burrows and sand. Cute as ever. Beyond the first of many large paddocks for domestics and Darwin's Rhea was the Brazilian Tapir enclosure, which I thought was excellent. Pools in tapir enclosures are, thankfully, becoming more common, but Jimmy's took it a step further with several smaller streams, puddles and mud wallows peppered across this very dense and hilly enclosure. And, if the tapirs did want a larger, grassier space, then I'm lead to believe that they can access the rhea paddock next door. This is probably the best tapir enclosure that I've ever seen.
Various domestic goats, donkeys and llamas benefit from nice hilly paddocks where children were seen feeding them. I'm fine with farms selling feed to give to domestics, but I don't see what stops visitors from feeding it to exotic animals whose diets may not benefit from hand feeding. There are signs advising you not to do it, but more irresponsible parents may not say much should their kids wish to. A family member that I was visiting with claimed they saw a family doing this with the Arctic Foxes later in the day, but they were gone by the time they got to the enclosure; hopefully this, and similar shocking behaviour, doesn't cause any health complications. There is a big but boring lawn for Bactrian Camels followed by a lovely Barbary Macaque enclosure seen from a bridge. One half is your standard macaque lawn, whereas the other features a nice pool and a gorgeous cluster of very tall trees and bushes. In theory, monkey paradise, but I couldn't help but feel as though it's wasted on a species like the Barbary Macaque which, from my personal experience, is a bit more terrestrial than its relatives; I could be wrong, but I think there are other more arboreal monkeys that would be a better fit.
There is a huge field for Grant's Zebra as well as Common Eland, a lovely antelope taxa which I don't see enough nowadays with Whipsnade keeping them no more. It extends into a valley at the bottom with a big body of water overgrown with reeds; by this point, I was already noticing a very welcome trend of overgrown enclosures with good water sources. Just beyond this was the entrance to the project that put the zoo on the map, 'the Lost Lands of the Tundra.' As is typical of British zoos though, it wasn't overthemed, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, though the lack of any coherency or evidence that the area you're in is supposed to be presented as one continuous exhibition was slightly more disappointing. Bar one or two signs about the tundra biome and the presence of the bears, there was no evidence that I was approaching the reason I came here. This is perhaps best exemplified by the Reindeer enclosure, which is tucked away in a corner of the playground, their stables besides a coffee shop, and you can't get to their enclosure from the rest of the tundra exhibit without passing guinea pigs and ruffed lemurs. One of the reindeers had unbelievable antlers, as tall as the rest of its body. A sign informed me about a very interesting fact that I didn't already know (quite rare at zoos): reindeers have awful eyesight, so locate one another by listening to the clicking sounds made by their leg tendons sliding over bone. After some patience, I heard this myself.
Now moving onto the reason I came to Jimmy's: the Polar Bears. The zoo keep four, with Ewa being the initial 'rescue' from Orsa, another two females from Yorkshire WP, and a fourth from Peak WP. All of them are absolutely stunning animals. Polar Bears are almost too good to be true; you take an animal like a bear that is already amazing, then make it bigger, a brighter colour, and able to swim. It is also ridiculously fluffy with a demeanour not dissimilar to that of man's best friend, but it would rip you apart if given the chance. I came here to see them, and they did not disappoint. I could usually see at least three of the four at any given time from the central vantage point, mainly sitting down in their signature dog-like position which they seem to do more than any other bear. Two of them in particular rarely ever left each other's side - I'd assume these are the females from Yorkshire and have developed a bond over the years. They spent a great while foraging in the long grass for something, though I'm not sure what it could have been (perhaps just sniffing, which would be very dog-like!). Ewa sadly spent most of the day pacing, which the zoo claims she has done since her Orsa days and is a result of her stressful upbringing at a Dutch zoo where she'd repeatedly fought with her neighbour and had to be separated as a result. However, she was the only bear to go for a swim at any point, and watching her dive in head first and then shake herself dry was a highlight, as was seeing one of the other bears rear onto its hind legs in excitement as a keeper readied to feed her.
Now for the enclosure. This claims to be the biggest Polar Bear reserve in Europe, which I must say I found hard to believe in person (Highland’s looked a lot bigger), but it’s true. Per Google Earth, the larger paddock is 2.3 hectares (5.7 acres), the smaller one is 0.75 (1.9), and according to the zoo themselves there is a further 2 (5) of woodland; however, a local told me that the bears and wolves rotate for access to the woodland, explaining why I couldn’t see any evidence of the bear paddock connecting and why the wolves were invisible all day. Like all four British zoos with Polar Bears, it looks a little industrial with no underwater viewing. Between its very basic shape, the lack of trees and the excessive wires, it really isn't the prettiest enclosure. But for the bears, it's enormous, has three pools (each allegedly deep per the zoo's website), some nice enrichment and a lot of dens, as well as an indoor area which is supposedly ventilated. And you can imagine how amazing it is when they are given access to the woodland. It really is a woodland, with tall and mature trees with smaller shrubs creating a dense labyrinth where it would be all but impossible for visitors to find the bears should they want to use it. It also offers shade, which the zoo claims reduces the temperature massively and helps with comfort. Great enclosure, but with one big problem: you're almost always looking down at the bears, making their size less appreciable. The top of the larger paddock, which they went to at one point to eat near the end of the day, is level with the guest viewing, but that's it.
There are also Grey ('Arctic') Wolves, in an enclosure behind the two bear paddocks that you are always at least fifteen metres from. This is because Jimmy's lets dogs in, which can transmit certain diseases to wolves. Presumably as they were using the woodland, I didn't see any during the day, though right at closing time one came out to be fed, and heading back to London that evening, I saw three out the window of the train. A triangular enclosure in the middle of the raised viewing for the bears is signed on the map for foxes, but actually held pinioned Red-breasted Geese. I would find the Arctic Foxes later in the woodland section - adorable, with one very lively and the other much sleepier, in a nice wooded enclosure, a serious upgrade on what I assume was their older one (the geese). I've now seen this species twice (here and at Highland) and both times they were in their summer coats; hopefully I'll be able to see their famous white coats one day.
Beyond the lemurs and guinea pigs is a really nice coati enclosure with a tall tree, something that I've only seen in continental zoos like Burgers' and Prague. There is also the Reptile House with its attractive entrance archway, bookended by two aviaries for fairly common species, like macaws, kookaburras and domestic geese. The Reptile House is a greenhouse, which I always like, but compared to other such exhibits that are heated and daylit (the old one at Bristol, for example), I thought there was a big missed opportunity with the lack of open enclosures, and there was a lot of unused space. In general, it's a fairly generic house.
There are two exceptions which definitely caught my eye: the Common Snapping Turtle pool, shared with some goldfish and very attractively overgrown, with this dangerous chelonian unsettlingly well camouflaged; the other was the Leafcutter Ant enclosure, which of all the various creative displays I've seen for this species is probably the best. The ants collect their leaves from the snapping turtle enclosure and then climb across about a quarter of the building's perimeter, starting on some very high rope and then going into glass tubes which line the crocodile enclosure. I didn't even notice it at first, but held onto the tubes while craning my neck for a better view of the crocodile and suddenly startled myself with the realisation that there were ants on my hand. Speaking of the crocodile, a Morelett's, the enclosure is a bit small and sparse, with an interesting design wherein the pool extends underneath the land area. Thankfully, they will receive a bigger enclosure soon in the Butterfly House. Though it was small, I loved the little coral tank by the entrance and thought it was nicely done. The huge Boa Constrictor was cool too. The zoo also does a 'Meet the Reptiles' talk where they put a lead on an iguana and let people stroke it. Nearby were Dwarf Zebu, one of which let me stroke its distinctive hump, which was fun. I expected it to be very soft as it is mostly a fat reservoir, but it was actually quite dense.
After leaving for my (delicious) lunch in the barn and restaurant and re-entering, I went to see the Capybara enclosure, shared with more pinioned geese. Much like the tapir enclosure, it was exceptional and gave the animals full access to a large pool and many reeds and areas of overgrowth to vanish among. There were also babies, which were adorable. The exquisite quality of this enclosure, coupled with that of the tapirs opposite, made me wonder why the ex-camel enclosure next door is marked as a future home for their South American animals. The Giant Anteater and mara enclosure, which was quite small and didn’t have anywhere outdoors for the anteaters to hide, probably merited this redevelopment a little more. You pass over the anteater enclosure with a bridge which I partly hoped looking at the map would be an anteater walkthrough, though of course there is a very good reason that no such thing exists!
The winding path through the woods that followed was very steep and had very few enclosures to admire while ascending, with the exception of a really pleasant enclosure for Northern Raccoons (though based on my previous observations of the species’ climbing ability, I’m surprised by the rather casual fencing). There was a second enclosure here that looked unoccupied to me, but per the news thread, it's home to foxes of some description. At the top of this is Diego’s Wood, home to another bear from Orsa, a European Brown named Diego. This is probably one of the best Brown Bear enclosures that I’ve ever seen, providing plenty of cover, wooded portions, climbing apparatus, a small pool and dens, scattered enrichment items, and an absurd amount of space. However, I couldn’t help but feel as though they should have used the much larger and more extensive woodland behind. There are many trees in the enclosure, but most of them are too flimsy to support a bear climbing, with one or two exceptions which in and of themselves make this enclosure better than most others that I’ve seen; even still, compare it to Bristol and consider that the zoo has access to enough woodland necessary to create such an enclosure, and I’d like something a little better. It’s odd, because if the zoo didn’t have a huge and empty forest behind, I wouldn’t have a bad word to say against it as it’s a truly excellent enclosure, and yet I felt underwhelmed. I could see Diego, eating behind a bush.
Nearby is the Rare Breeds Farm, which is the onshow portion of Jimmy’s extensive collection of rare breeds. The map suggests it was once far larger, but in the present day, it is only really pigs, all featuring many piglets, being very attractive breeds, and living in large enclosures with thin wires separating different breeds that are just about invisible. The other portion of the farm is now an enormous construction site for what is rumoured to be the lions or tigers from Chessington, which is phasing both species out. While I was checking the ZooChat news threads ahead of my visit (the only spoilers that I allow myself before visiting a zoo for the first time), I saw mention that this construction site is enormous, but I still wasn’t prepared for quite how vast it is. For each of the tigers and lions, this will surely be one of the biggest enclosures for them in the country, possibly the biggest once safari parks are excluded. Huge mounds are being created and then planted on, so there will be a very undulating landscape, and some rudimentary dens and climbing structures have already been created. A sign suggests the area will be India-themed.
At this point, I returned to the Polar Bears, and realised there was one part of the zoo I was yet to see: the Butterfly House. On the other side of the big lawn with the playground from the reindeer, and adjacent to the Reptile House, are a pair of identical and connected greenhouses which form the Butterfly House; one of these isn’t part of the main walkthrough though, consisting of the lemur indoors and the future crocodile enclosure. The exhibit begins with a small aviary for Red Fodies and Red-footed Tortoise, as well as the indoors for the Ring-tailed Lemurs nearby; with how many zoos keep their lemurs in indoor areas that are as good as glorified cardboard boxes, to see a large one with plenty of foliage, climbing platforms, and natural sunlight and heating from its greenhouse setting was really refreshing. The butterfly side of things is a bit less impressive: on my first circuit, I saw a single Blue Morpho and thought this must be the worst-stocked butterfly house in existence. I returned later and saw a few more, which was nice, but I don't think I caught glimpses of more than a dozen and even that required an awful lot of patience. A nice building, but it really could do with some more butterflies! Adjacent is a nice enclosure for Meerkats and African Spurred Tortoise.
On that note, I’d just about seen all of Jimmy’s Farm, and spent the last hour-and-a-half watching the Polar Bears. They’re endlessly captivating, but I don’t need to tell you about that. As soon as Jimmy’s got the species in 2023, I checked how easy it is to get there by transport, but concluded it was too challenging; what didn’t occur to me is that it is extremely easy to get from London to Ipswich, and from there it is a simple matter of getting a taxi. The real problem it turns out is price: £25 for admission, £26 in total for a round trip on a taxi, plus food, train fares, and the small bus fares to get across London. Jimmy’s Farm is not an especially big or interesting zoo in general, and three years ago that wouldn’t have been worth it. But now they have Polar Bears, and they are worth every penny. For that reason alone, it is not a matter of ‘if’ I would like to visit again, but ‘when?!’ The answer is probably once the South American and Indian developments are done for a little bit more novelty, but to be honest a bit of me wants to come back sooner than that. I grew up with Polar Bears feeling like a fantastical rarity, with only one UK zoo keeping them, later two, but with them all seeming just too far away. Now, for the first time in decades, a zoo in the South of England has Polar Bears, and I want to make it count by going there as much as possible.
Polar Bears aside, Jimmy’s Farm isn't mind-blowing. There is a lot that is good: the best tapir enclosure I’ve seen; the most exciting Leafcutter Ant display I know of; a great capybara enclosure; one of the nation’s exemplary Brown Bear enclosures; some lovely and hard-to-come-by mammals such as Arctic Foxes; a certain charm and eccentricity to it by virtue of it being originally a rare breeds farm and still very much embracing that monicker; a solid macaque enclosure; some of the biggest and best hoofstock paddocks around, particularly where domestics are concerned; and lemurs with an actual indoor area, not a gloomy box. Something that I'm yet to mention but definitely deserves praise is the exceptional standard of signage! But there is also a lot that is less good: way too many pinioned birds for my liking, and not enough aviaries; the emptiest butterfly house that I’ve ever seen; a couple of cramped vivariums in the reptile house; a pretty bad anteater enclosure; a lot of walking in the woods with no enclosures which feels like a burden when all I really want to do is look at Polar Bears. All of this is okay, because every zoo in the country has its flaws, and Jimmy’s is actually trying to improve a lot of them with various renovations throughout the zoo. A lot of what I just said is the sort of nitpicking that I wouldn't have bothered about a few years ago. I really, really liked the place, but I do think that ultimately it is just a slightly more charming, more attractive version of the average medium-sized zoo in a rural area that you could find anywhere in the UK. But then again, it has Polar Bears.
All in all, a really enjoyable visit. I look forward to seeing what the future holds for Jimmy’s Farm and hopefully returning one day soon.
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