UK Collections By Public Transport: A Guide

Muncaster World Owl Trust

Another very pleasant journey; the journey to Ravenglass railway station passes through some of the nicest scenery in England. Also passes through some of the worst if you are arriving via Carlisle and thus pass through Sellafield on the way ;) but no matter. Once you reach Ravenglass, you will find yourself having a short walk of about a mile - taking approximately 20 minutes - along a peaceful country road which has good footpaths until you reach the gates of the Muncaster estate.

http://goo.gl/maps/tYJ60

On a clear day this walk can provide views up Eskdale, and even Scafell Pike, which is always a nice bonus.

Once you have paid your entry fee at the small ticket roundhouse near the gates, you'll have a half-mile walk through the gardens of Muncaster Castle before you reach the series of walled gardens where the World Owl Trust collection is held.
 
Newquay Zoo

This one is quite easy - upon arriving at Newquay railway station, the zoo is only a ten minute walk - about 0.6 miles - through some quiet suburbs.

Walking route below:

http://goo.gl/maps/O82Vr
 
Owl And Monkey Haven

From Newport Bus Station, catch the Route 9 Southern Vectis bus to Ryde, ensuring you get the bus travelling via Staplers. This service runs every 20 minutes all day, and stops opposite the gates of OMH en-route.

To reach Newport Bus Station on your arrival onto the Isle of Wight, catch the following services depending on where you have arrived:

Yarmouth - catch the half hourly Route 7 from the ferry terminal to Newport Bus Station. This is the route, and thus service, I took.

Cowes - catch the Route 1 from the ferry terminal to Newport Bus Station.

East Cowes - catch the Route 5 from the ferry terminal to Newport Bus Station.

Ryde - the Route 9 from the ferry terminal, when going via Staplers, stops at OMH en-route to Newport Bus Station, as noted above.

One way of doing both Amazon World and OMH in one trip is to disembark the Route 8 bus as you return from Amazon World when it passes through Staplers, and then catch the next Route 9 to the Owl and Monkey Haven. As the Wightlink ferries to the island have an option for foot passengers to purchase slightly more expensive ferry tickets which give unlimited use of Southern Vectis buses for the day, this is a strategy which does not cost any more in transport costs than only doing one collection.
 
Paignton Zoo

Quite a nice 25 minute walk of just over a mile from Paignton railway station through this seaside town, with plenty of footpaths and signposts - no risk of getting lost, and you can get yourself some fish and chips as you wait for your train.

Walking route provided below:

http://goo.gl/maps/wpZfH
 
Port Lympne Wild Animal Park

Now, this is an example of how the suggested route of travel on a collection's website for those travelling by public transport is not always the *best* route.

The Port Lympne website suggests that anyone wishing to arrive by public transport should get a train to Ashford International railway station, and catch the Stagecoach East Kent number 10 bus, which runs between Ashford and Folkestone via the park. However, this bus only serves the park intermittently, and ceases to serve the park some hours before it closes - something which applies at all times of the year.

As the collection is large enough to merit a full day, this is deemed unsatisfactory in my eyes. As such, I travelled to the collection by the following route:

Having arrived at Ashford International railway station, I caught one of the hourly trains from there to Westenhanger railway station. This required a walk through the Kent countryside of about 50 minutes, covering approximately 2.5 miles - until the very last stretch of the road there are abundant footpaths, and even then the grass verge is extremely wide and perfectly safe to walk on. This method has the fringe benefit of permitting one to arrive at the collection for opening and stay until closing with no fear of being stranded, as the Westenhanger rail services run until late.

Walking route linked below:

http://goo.gl/maps/uhL8Y
 
Scottish SEA LIFE Sanctuary

A relatively straightforward route, although I really do not think this collection is worth the bother of getting there ;)

Once one has arrived at Oban railway station, catch either the 005 or 405 service from Oban to Barcaldine, which stops at the Sanctuary en-route.
 
Shaldon Wildlife Trust

A small collection, but well-worth the visit - I managed the following journey on the same day that I visiting Living Coasts.

Get a train to Teignmouth railway station. From there you will have to walk through Teignmouth and cross the bridge over the titular mouth of the River Teign in order to reach the village of Shaldon, before heading up the hill to the Wildlife Trust. The walk should take about 35 minutes, covering 1.7 miles, but the steepness of the hill at the end of the walk may give some a hard time.

Walking route linked below:

http://goo.gl/maps/cdjGr
 
South Lakes Wild Animal Park

This journey is a tougher one than it seems - and not just because you're going to South Lakes ;) - as the walk is all up-hill for the entire journey. I hope it counts for something when I say that the following short journey made me feel much, much worse than the long walk to Hamerton ever did!

Get a train to Dalton-in-Furness. From there, you will need to walk through the town and up the hill to where the Wild Animal Park is located. It is only about a mile in distance, and if you are very fit should take maybe 20 minutes - but as noted above the hill is sufficiently steep that it might give you trouble.

Walking route linked below:

http://goo.gl/maps/uNTg9
 
Tynemouth Blue Reef Aquarium

This journey will take you to a rather lovely looking part of the world - the most southerly portion of the Northumberland coastline which stretches from Tynemouth all the way up to the Scottish border at Berwick-upon-Tweed; depending on the time of year, as you walk along the seafront you may see eider ducks, long-tailed ducks, skuas or even puffins.

But enough gushing about my home turf ;)

On arriving into Newcastle railway station, descend the stairs away from the platforms and down into the Tyne and Wear Metro station, Newcastle Central. Here, you should catch one of the northbound yellow line trains to the coast, which run every few minutes or so. The shortest walk to the aquarium can be found if you disembark the train at Cullercoats, at which point a 15 minute walk (something like 0.7 miles) through the suburbs and onto the seafront will take you to the Blue Reef Aquarium.

The aforementioned route is linked below:

http://goo.gl/maps/56RHP

If you feel like walking along the sea front a little longer, you should disembark one stop earlier, at Whitley Bay. The following link is not actually the shortest route from Whitley Bay, but if you are going to deliberately lengthen your walk, you want the scenic route rather than a long walk through the suburbs - as such, this route will take you along the seafront of the Whitley Bay and Cullercoats region.

http://goo.gl/maps/0PqWZ
 
Welsh Mountain Zoo

This is another walk which can be a little steep - although nowhere near as steep as the walk to South Lakes - but fortunately the paths are decent throughout.

When you arrive at Colwyn Bay railway station, you will have to walk through the town and up the hill to the zoo. In the summer months there is usually a free shuttle bus from the railway station to the zoo, which runs roughly every 20 minutes, but I naturally cannot vouch for this running in 2014.

The walk, if you do indeed find you have to do so, should only take about 25 minutes and covers a shade over a mile.

http://goo.gl/maps/kPA1U
 
ZSL London Zoo

The exact route one takes to reach this collection naturally depends very much on how one has arrived into London itself. It can however be assumed that prices in the city being what they are, saving a little money would be helpful. Fortunately, I have two good tips for how to do so, alongside my advice on how to reach the collection itself.

Firstly, although the nearest Tube station to the Zoo is Camden Town, which is only about 15 minutes walk from the collection, this station is just within Zone 2; as the main London terminals (Kings Cross, Euston, Liverpool Street and Victoria) are Zone 1 stations this would entail a more expensive Tube fare. Therefore, a cheaper and more scenic alternative is to travel from one of these stations to Great Portland Street, which is Zone 1 and just opposite the entrance to Regents Park. This will, of course, mean a slightly longer walk to reach the zoo - 1.2 miles, taking roughly 20 minutes - but it does mean you can walk through Regents Park on your way to the zoo, and indeed walk past the perimeter of the zoo within the park.

This walking route is linked below:

http://goo.gl/maps/CbgLJ

The second useful bit of money-saving advice for those visiting this collection by public transport is to point them towards the following site, from which they can download and print off "2 for 1" entry vouchers for a number of London sites, including the Zoo, which are valid for anyone presenting a railway ticket for the day of the visit.

Days Out Guide - 2FOR1 London
 
And that is me more-or-less finished: I'll naturally update the thread in future with anywhere new I visit by public transport, but any feedback or comments on what I have posted already would be more than welcome :) not to mention any tips I may have missed, or advice for collections I have not written about.

But first, a collection I accidentally missed out earlier tonight:

Chestnut Centre Conservation & Wildlife Park

A little bit of a long walk, but more than worth it I feel - and the views you can get on the journey are excellent :)

Get a train to Chapel-en-le-Frith railway station - the Manchester to Buxton line serves the station on an hourly basis - and walk down the hill into the town itself. Both on the train journey and the walk, you should get some very nice views of the Peak District in the distance. After passing through the town, you will have to walk back up the hill and under the A6 overpass - this is the only portion of the walk where traffic may be an issue, as if memory serves the path is a bit scrubby and beaten out of the grass verge here. Beyond here, you continue up the hill through the Derbyshire countryside until you reach the Chestnut Centre.

The walk should take about 50 minutes in total, covering roughly 2.5 miles, but it is a gentle walk with good paths barring the aforementioned section.

The walking route is linked below:

http://goo.gl/maps/i6Cxd
 
you should insert that last description into the closest relevant collection's post (alphabetically) to keep it in order. (I'm not sure that one can add a whole new post in the middle of a thread, so it would have to be two separate descriptions in one post). Also I would insert some comment under L for London Zoo that the directions are described under ZSL London Zoo because I know for myself I would look for London Zoo and not ZSL London Zoo.
 
Chlidonias said:
you should insert that last description into the closest relevant collection's post (alphabetically) to keep it in order. (I'm not sure that one can add a whole new post in the middle of a thread, so it would have to be two separate descriptions in one post). Also I would insert some comment under L for London Zoo that the directions are described under ZSL London Zoo because I know for myself I would look for London Zoo and not ZSL London Zoo.
Click to expand...

What I may do is edit the first post of the thread to include a master list of links to collection descriptions which I can edit in future as required after posting new descriptions into the thread - this would be much easier than regularly inserting the new descriptions into the pre-existing posts, as it would not be obvious in this eventuality that the thread had been updated.
 
TeaLovingDave said:
What I may do is edit the first post of the thread to include a master list of links to collection descriptions which I can edit in future as required after posting new descriptions into the thread - this would be much easier than regularly inserting the new descriptions into the pre-existing posts, as it would not be obvious in this eventuality that the thread had been updated.
Click to expand...
that is a much better idea. Something like "ZSL London Zoo: post #31" or just a list in the order they appear in the thread?
 
Chlidonias said:
that is a much better idea. Something like "ZSL London Zoo: post #31" or just a list in the order they appear in the thread?
Click to expand...

Not quite - an alphabetical list of collections, which I will edit and add to as neccesary. That way any future additions to the thread can be linked in the opening post in their correct alphabetical position.

On which note, the opening post of this thread has now been edited - what do you think?
 
The post number in the upper-right corner of each post is a permalink to the post itself :)
 
bongorob said:
I always use Selly Oak station
Click to expand...

Selly Oak is a decent alternative if you don't want to walk too far, I imagine - I don't bother as the time taken to wait for a train to Selly Oak and then walk from there to BNC can be longer than the walk from New Street would take!
 
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