Family fun at Twycross Zoo!

This month my daughter and I visited Twycross Zoo. I visited the zoo many times when I was a child, and this is the second time that I’ve visited the zoo with my daughter. Last March we visited the zoo when they had a parent and toddler offer on, and again this March they were doing another parent and toddler deal. From 18-29 March (Monday-Friday), you could get a parent and toddler ticket (which included up to two children under the age of 5) for £10. At that price, we just had to go! We visited last Friday, which turned out to be a good choice of day, as the weather was glorious. We met a friend and her son at the zoo. The zoo opened at 10am and it was busy! By 10.30am, the queue was down the car park. I’ve never known it so busy. And, one thing that was a little disappointing was, even if you booked your tickets online, as we did, you still had to queue with those purchasing tickets on the day so that made for one very long queue! Thankfully, we only queued for about 20 minutes, but from talking to other visitors, they weren’t so lucky! Therefore, my advice would be, if the zoo has an offer on, get there early. 

Twycross Zoo is about a 40-minute drive from Coventry. It’s in Atherstone, Warwickshire. There is plenty to do there to keep both adults and kids occupied for a full day. We entered the park at around 10.30am and left at 5pm, and we did loads! For starters, there are over 500 animals to see. Also, there are daily animal talks, you can feed the lorikeets, walk with goats, visit the butterfly forest, there are children’s play areas, and you can grab a coffee or a bite to eat! On arrival you receive a map, so we consulted that to decide on the best route around the park so we could see and do as much as possible. We started at the Gibbon Forest.

Then we made our way to the orang utans, gorillas, zebras, Chimpanzee Eden – the newest animal habitat, and the giraffes (also spotting the kangaroos, tortoises, and lots of monkeys en route).

Then, it was time for our picnic lunch. After lunch we went to ‘Lorikeet Landing’, to feed the lorikeets. They weren’t too hungry, as a coach-load of school children had visited just before we arrived. But we still managed to feed a couple. However, the little ones weren’t so keen on feeding them, so it was left to the adults! 

After the lorikeets it was off to see the meerkats, penguins (one of my favourites!), flamingos, the Borneo Longhouse, the owls, and more monkeys! By the time we got over to the butterfly forest, it was closed, so we had a quick refreshment break and went to one of the kids’ play areas instead. Our day finished with a visit to the goats, guinea pigs and donkeys, followed by a trip to the gift shop before we headed home. We had a fun-filled day at Twycross Zoo! There’s certainly loads to see and do, for all ages. 

Twycross Zoo is a conservation charity, which invests funds into protecting endangered species. If you’d like to find out more about Twycross Zoo and the work they do, book a visit, or see what events and activities are on at the zoo in 2019, you can visit their website: https://twycrosszoo.org/.