When Warner Holidays bought Cricket St Thomas they scrapped the bright and spongy Mr Blobby fixtures and opened a hotel. Last year they announced they were to scrap the much loved Wildlife Park after thirty years, turning the attraction into a 'Lakes & Gardens' destination with an 'Adults Only' hotel. I'm guessing the owners hate kids, as my visit earlier this month was as far away from Blobbyland as physically possible.

My 2009 visit was immensely fun. A friend and I saw all the animals and cooed over them like we were six, ate a picnic lunch and generally had a good time.

My 2010 visit was totally the opposite. OK, it was dreary weather and it rained a few times, but I'm not attributing my bad experience to that alone. I arrived to a near empty car park and followed a family in, who were asked by the shy staff at the entrance whether they knew 'we aren't a wildlife park anymore', despite the obvious road signs displaying the opposite. The family were surprised but still went in. I saw them later, the two children looking incredibly bored.

The attractions at Cricket are only really interesting on a National Trust/Kew Gardens level, ie, mainly for older visitors. Children can climb into the Holey Tree and ride the (now free) train, but with the empty, silent fields, there is little to look at. Even some of the enclosures and fences remain, like something after a nuclear holocaust. The only animals still there are lemurs and meerkats, the latter I had watched running around in '09, now shivering in the rain looking lonely. It was a sad and sorry sight.

The shops and food outlets at Cricket have been emthasized for its 'restoration' (of what, I can't make out) relaunch, but being so poncy expensive, it hardly seems an attractive place to visit.

The hotel guests were the only ones who seemed to be enjoying themselves, playing bowls on the lawn. Really I think the park should be an exclusive place for hotel visitors, as the public part feels like Warner Holidays feel obliged to run the park. Thinking of what a 'wild' place it had once been marketed as, my visit left me cold and nostalgic.

In conclusion, I can only tell you DO NOT take your kids to Cricket St Thomas. It is a dull place for children, expensive and far away from many other attractions, so you'll feel cheated out of a day out. I can only point you to Longleat, a similar yet warmer place where you can see lions and have far much more fun.