Monkeying around (Cotswold Wild life park)

Member Name: anwar7

Product:	Cotswold Wild life park
Date:	27/04/05 (252 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: fun!

Disadvantages: expensive

I am not a lover of zoos in general with a few exceptions. The Cotswold wildlife park is 160 acres of parkland where many of the animals roam in spacious areas. I have taken my 2 children to this park on several occasions and we have always really enjoyed our visit. I hope this review will be useful to anyone planning a visit.

Where is it?
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The Cotswold wildlife park is situated 2 miles south of Burford on the A 361. It is well signposted from the A40.

There is no bus to the park, the nearest stop being in Burford. You would then need to take a taxi to the park.

The park
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The Cotswold wildlife park is situated in the heart of the Cotswolds and surrounded by beautiful countryside. On arrival the first thing you notice is how easy it is to park and get into the park. There is ample disabled parking at the front of the car park. It is possible to picnic on the field that forms part of the car park if you don’t want to carry picnic food with you.

Admission costs are quite high at £8.50 per adult and £6 for children 3-16 yrs. Senior citizens pay £6 and under 3’s are free. There is no reduction for those with a disability. Car parking is included in the admission price. The park opens at 10 am and closes at 6 pm at present. Last admission is 4.30 from march-September and 3.30 from October-February. The park is open all year.


The park consists of 160 acres around a listed Victorian manor house, now housing a restaurant and conference centre. The park is home to a large number of different mammals, birds and reptiles from all over the world.

From the car park we usually head to see the penguins. They are fed at 11 am and again at 4pm. The short walk to the penguin pool passes numerous birds, the spider monkeys, and otters. There is also a hot house with tropical plants and birds to see. On our last visit a few weeks ago we were lucky enough to see the new additions to the otter family. They seem to come out of hiding at the same time as the penguins are fed. I think they must smell the fish!

From the penguin pool the path winds through more large bird enclosures including various species of owls. There are several paths leading from this area and we usually make for the large cats next. On route is a very large outdoor enclosure with 2 rhinos and a herd of zebras. These animals have a lot of space to roam in with only a pit and small wire fence to separate them from the public. When the Rhinos are in their indoor enclosure you can see them very clearly at close quarters.

Close to the Rhinos enclosure is one of the 2 narrow gauge railway stops. The train cost an extra £1 for an adult and 50p per child. It travels around the park perimeter and even has a wooden tunnel to pass through. It is a big hit with my children and well worth the cost.
The walk to the big cats passes other large open areas with camels, lamas and ostriches and several other species. There is also a refreshment kiosk and a toilet block.

Compared to all the other animals in the park the lions have a small living area. They appear in good condition and produced cubs last year, now transferred to other parks as part of the Cotswold wildlife parks breeding programme.

There is a single cheetah housed near the lions. Like the lions I wish it had more space. I was disturbed to see this beautiful animal pacing too.

There are several picnic benches in this area of the park housed in a small covered area. The path doubles back on itself continues to the Victorian manor and a huge grassed area with large trees. This is our favourite picnic area.

Once lunch is finished there is a good adventure playground. The highlight is an enclosed slide built around a large tree. The top of the slide is also a tree house.
There is also a really lovely adventure playground for the under 7’s.

The pets corner is situated next to the playground and has various animals to pet .We saw a goat born here last year, although on our last visit there were only a few adolescent pigs!

From the pets’ corner the path leads through a gated enclosure to a large lake area with ducks, flamingos and other feathered friends. On our last visit my children were fascinated with the large number of ducklings.

Also close to the adventure playground are the reptile and bat houses. There are a large number of snakes and lizards on view here and 2 alligators. My son was lucky (or not)! enough to be allowed to handle a snake with one of the parks keepers, whilst his mother watched from a safe distance.

At the back of the reptile house is a large monkey house. We love watching these endearing creatures. There is a little window where you can get really close to the monkeys when they come inside to get to their food.

Other information
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There are plenty of lovely picnic places in the park, but if you don’t want to bring your own food there is a large restaurant serving a variety of hot and cold food. I can’t really comment on the quality as I have only bought drinks there and they were very expensive. There is both indoor and outdoor seating.
There are also several kiosks selling drinks and ice creams.

The park has several toilet blocks with baby changing facilities. Although I think more baby changing areas would be useful. The toilets have always been clean when we have visited. There are no separate baby feeding rooms and this is something else I would like to see.

The park is suitable for disabled visitors and wheelchairs are available for loan. All the paths are wheelchair friendly.

The park runs an adopt an animal scheme at a cost of £15 for under 14 ‘s. Full details are available from the parks website at www.cotswoldwildlifepark.co.uk. The website also has details of events such as meet a snake and birds of prey demonstrations.

At the front of the car park is the usual gift shop. The one here has a good selection of inexpensive souvenirs for children to buy with profits going to the park. I tend to avoid all gift shops however as we have more than enough plastic toys!
To fully appreciate all this park has to offer you will need to spend the day here. It is tiring and hard on the feet, so wear comfortable shoes! We have always had a great day out here in all weathers and I hope you will too.

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