| Product: |
Chestnut Centre Otter and Owl Sanctuary (Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire) |
| Date: |
21/02/08 (247 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Spacious enclosures, lovely scenery, nice cafe and gift shop, reasonable price
Disadvantages: It always rains there!
I am very lucky. I live within 45 minutes drive of this place. And what a superb place it is. Many people will be going-otters and owls are boring -but here they are not. The Chestnut Centre sets new standards for sheer beauty and animal welfare
It is truly excellent.
The Chestnut Centre is one of two otter centres that are run by the Heap family-the other being in New Forest. They also own the Battersea Park Childrens Zoo.
History
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The Centre is named after a big chestnut tree in the park which was planted to commemorate Queen Victoria's 50 years on the throne. In 1984 it officially opened as an otter and owl conservation centre. It had all started with two Asian Short Clawed Otters in the garden named Kizzie and Ferdie. It provides care for any injured otters and owls and many go back in the wild. Many of the other animals are rare of elusive British mammals but the otters and owls come from all around the world.
Facilities
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As you may have realised The Chestnut Centre is situated in the Peak Distrcit and is quite near Castleton and Chapel-en-le-Frith. They are located of the A625 east of Chapel-en-le Frith from the A6 and is well signposted. After turning you must make another sharp turn to go into the car park. The car park is really small but hadrly every full and is free. The toilets are here outside the park and are quite small but are very clean . The ticket lets you in and out of the park as you please.
You now enter the visitor centre. It is quite small and is divided in half. On one half is the gift shop which is home to lots of t-shirts, caps, cuddly otters, photos of otters etc.etc. It isn't full of tacky rubbish and is very reasonably priced-baseball cap costing only £1.99.
The cafe is on the other side . Its quite nice with wooden tables and sells lots of tasty cakes and tea as well as Jacket potatoes and a good range of hot food wich is once again very reasonably priced.
The ticket office is here to. Admission prices for 2008 are:
Adult £6.50
Child £4.50
Family £20.00
Season tickets are also available:
Adult £26.00
Child £18.00
Family £80.00
The prices are quite reasonable for what you get but for some reason I always think they are a tad expensive.
Opening times for 2008
Autumn/Winter (Open daily but only weekends in January)
10.30am -dusk (around 4pm)
Last admission 3pm
Spring/ Summer
Open daily 10.30am -5.30pm
Last entrance 4pm
After passing the harvest mice and going through double doors you begin tyour journey...
Parkland
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The very first bit of the centre is actually a deer park. Its big and green with some lovely views of the surrounding hills and farms. One word of warning-it always rains when I go-so bring a brolly!
There is a surfaced nature trail through the park and very so often there are signs talking about and showing bird houses and information about the trees you can see etc. These are quite informative. Another attractions here are the fallow deer-a fairly large herd with a lovely massive area to roam around. You will probably see them and they are a great sight. About three quarters of the way round there is a path down to the enclosures which are in a lovely wooded valley at the bottom. We always carry on and after crossing the bridge over a lovely stream our journey begins...
The Animals
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The Otters
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I'm going to start with the otters. I love these chaps. There are five species of otter here....
The very first one you shall (hopefully meet) is the Giant Otter. He has a nice big millpond with plenty of space to run around and swim in and there are viewing points . This is a stunning sight-I have seen him/her once and I'll never forget it. He is a massive fellow about as big as a dog and will great you with a weird barking sound. No actually Iv'e seen it twice. You can view hish house-it is very big with some pools and voxes. Unfortunately one otter died and this one is getting on so he might not be here much longer.
Another otter rarely seen atr other zoos are the Canadian or North American Otters who's big enclosure and pool is right after the giant otter. You have access to their house-where they are usually cuddled together!
The otter most often seen in zoos is the Asian Short Clawed Otter who you have all almost always seen before. They are also the world's smallest otter-the Giant otter being the biggest! These chaps are very friendly and often run around their enclosure exploring, playing, having fun and greeting visitors while making a strange squeaking sound. They are great fun to watch and there are about 10 enclosures home to them here-all perfectly suited and larger than most zoos enclosures-one family had a massive enclosure with a stream running through it!
The final one is the European or British otters. Some of these are put back in the wild later. They are very shy and rarely seen-even here! . There's about 5 0r 6 lots here and most of them are further along in the park. There enclosures are once again spacious with big pools.
Owls
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The centre also has an extremely large collection of owls. It has all five British species-Barn, Tawny , Long and Short-eared and Little. All have spacious and clean aviaries with lots of perches and trees.
One of my favourites is the spectacled owl-a smallish owl but one that is beautifully coloured with yellow faces these owls will capture you hearts.
Another old favourite is the gorgeous snowy owl -there are two here in a lovely themed aviary. I really like these chaps.
Before the polecats and pine martens on a separte trail are the two biggest owls in the centre -the Great Grey and Eagle Owls.
The Eagle Owls are stunning with loevly red eyes.
BuT The great Grey owls are even more spectaculuar-there colours although grey areput into strange patterns and look vibrant. Their eyes are huge and yellow and stare right at you while their heads turn from left to right. Amazing.
I cannot get across to you what a massive aviary these chaps have-they are huge with perches, next boxes, gravelled and grassed floor with pine trees.
Other owls are the Scops owls the smallest in the world-they are so cute!
Foxes
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As i said before the centre alos has some other British animals many of which have been rescued. The foxes are opposite the wildcats and although I have seen these chaps many times in the wild I still love to see them because well they are beautiful There enclosure is very large and well planted up.
Wildcats
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The Scottish wildcat is in fast decline as they mix breed with domestic tabby cats. They do look like a wild tabby cat and are lovely beats and make a weird 'meowing' sound. I think there is one here and he has a good enclosure with a big tree climbing frame
Pine Marten
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I have never seen this chap but I have smelt him. For such a small mammal he is given a massive area which is heavily planted and superbly planted up so it looks just like his natural habitat.
Polecats
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The wild version of ferrets I can't help but love these guys. They have adorable red faces and are funnr running around . Here they even have a delicious looking white polecat. I always make time for these guys becuase there antics are hillarious. When asleep they all cuddle up together -a big aaahhh moment. Their enclosure is good with pleanty of toys and they also have a nice run to a smaller enclosure.
Buzzards
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A permanent resident here this poor lass was shot and could not be returned to the wild. Her partner is also here so she is not lonely as she has a broken wing. You must look at this enclosure from a distance as she is extremely weary fo humans but her aviary is really good and is well equipped with toys.
Harvest mice
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These guys are in the shop in a big glass tank filled with corn. Its quite a good size for these and they enjoy running around and are good fun to watch while playing. They ahve very adorable faces and seeing them curled up in their beds is ...cute.
Badgers
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The badger enclosure is too deal with injured bagers however I have never seen them . If there are any they have a nice big wooded area with lost of tunnels to go through. Their sett is a nice big ouse full of straw and the entracne is a mock sett entrance.
Other things
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Wheelchair access is mangeable as most paths are surfaced but there are a lot of hills so your carer must be strong.
I would recommend two hours for a visit but we always stay till late because this is when they feed them so you get good views of all of them.
Adoption
Youc an adopt the animals for six months or one year at these prcies
Otters( All bar giant), owls, birds of prey, fox and wild cat, polecta and pine marten
Yearly adoption £50.00
6 months adoption £25.00
Giant otter
Yearly adoption £100.00
6 months adoption £50.00
Harvest mice
Yearly adoption £30.00
6 month adoption £15.00
Fallow deer
Yearly adoption £60.00
6 month adoption £30.00
You will get a certificate and photo of our animals ready for framing as well as factsheet on your animal, cra sticker and thank you plate on the encsoure on the enclosure where your animals lives. They can be used as a gift. You also get two annual newsletters. All money goes towards feeding ,c onservation and welfare.
Overall
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Overall this is a super day out in a wonderful setting . All of the animals are well kept in massive enclosures and there is a suprisingly highr range of animals. The gift shop and cafe are well priced and the parkland and surrounding countryside are quite simply stunning. This is a great day out for all ages but is especially good for children. Just wish it'd stop raining though...
Thanks for reading
Will x
Summary: Superb
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