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Being a secondary school teacher is pretty hard work at times, but the holidays really are a bonus! So, during the Easter holidays, I decided to take me 2 year old, Harrison, to Yorkshire Wildlife Park. I saw on the news that they just got some baboons from Edinburgh Zoo and it looked good so I thought I'd check it oit. My southern husband, however, wasn't so sure. 'It's in Yorkshire, it's going to be rubbish.' Charming! But we bought a ticket online (£14.50 for me), got wrapped up, packed some lunch and off we went.
Well, the hubby couldn't have been more wrong. I had a brilliant day! I'm sure Harrison did too but I thought it was great! The first thing we encountered were some goats and sheep in a field - what makes this different to a typical zoo is that you can get up close to the animals as much as possible so we went into the field and Harrison shouted 'Doat!!' I was worried he would be scared of them but he was so excited to run after them and stroke them; he loved it.
We did the same with the wallabies, who were so adorable and many of them had little joeys in their pouches. Harrison was bouncing around the field and was lucky enough to stroke a wallaby, who was very friendly. We walked and walked for miles it seemed and we saw lions, tigers, giraffes, minkeys, lemurs and loads more - I'm not even sure what some of them were!
It was amazing to get up so close to the animals. Harrison absolutely had the time of his life, shouting 'Wow! Animals!' every five minutes and he learnt lots of new words.
We stopped for munch at the play barn where there was a soft play area for the little ones but for the older children it was like a jungle with tree houses, rope swings, tunnels and huge slides that could keep them entertained for hours.
It honestly was a great day out and under 3s go free so I only paid for myself. Harrison had the time of his life. If you had more than one child, or older children, you could spend all day there - there are two indoor play areas as well as hundreds of animals.
Top Tips:
- Take a picnic - food is pretty expensive but there are plenty of picnic areas
- Wrap up warm - it is Yorkshire after all...
- Consider a sling or carrier for babies - pushchairs aren't allowed in the petting areas, though there is a lot of walking
Check out www.yorkshirewildlifepark.co.uk for more information".
Thank you to my first ever guest post, Emma. You can follow her on Twitter @Holness599
