In the October half term, we were kindly gifted tickets to head to Paradise Wildlife Park in Hertfordshire.
It fell kindly for Kayleigh’s birthday so we headed there for a family day out and took Kayleigh’s friend for a visit too.
Both Kayleigh and her friend had been earlier in the year with the school and they had spent the whole time before we went telling us all about it so we couldn’t wait to get there.
We arrived just after the park had opened and found there was plenty of parking spaces, the car park is split into sections with the majority being right by the entrance. The rest of the parking is just across the road from the park so not far at all.
As it was the October half term there were lots of things to do in the park for Halloween which included pumpkin carving. The kids loved this and it was a great way to donate to the park too.
When we arrived we decided to spend the first half of the day working our way around the animals, then heading over to get some lunch before continuing through the dinosaur section and the play area.
The park itself is nicely laid out, it doesn’t feel too cramped and even though it was busy by lunchtime there was lots of space for everyone to see the various animals around the park. I like the way they have added lots of walkways up above the animals so you can see down into lots of the pens, it gives you the chance to see the animals without the cage in front of them which is lovely but also gives that feeling of space around the park again as there is lots of space to see.
There is a great range of animals to see in the park, out favourites were the cheetah as it was just like a big cat, rolling around on their back playing for the camera! Also, the Jaguars were amazing to see, playing in their pen hunting each other down and playing. We spent a long time watching them doing this as they just didn’t seem fussed we were around at all.
One of my favourites though was the red panda’s, they just looked adorable!
For our lunch, we ate in the main restaurant and it came to just over £30 for 5 of us to eat, with each of us being stuffed with the amount of food we received. There was plenty of space to sit and in the summer they have outside heating too which is great. There are also other food outlets throughout the park which you can use too should you want to.
In the afternoon we took a walk around the World of Dinosaurs (if you have a dinosaur fan this is a must!) plus the play area and the woodland animal section.
At no point did we have to really queue for anything and the whole park was spread nicely for us to head around for the day.
We have been to lots of zoos and animal parks over the years, some we’ve loved, others we’ve not been too keen on however we all really enjoyed our day at Paradise Wildlife Park. It was fun, engaging and appealing to all age groups.
It is definitely a place you should try and visit if you are looking for a day out. You can read all about their upcoming events and plan your visit here.