As part of our recent weekend away in the New Forest, a few days out were organised for us by Hampshire’s Top Attractions. The first of these was a trip to the New Forest Wildlife Park, near Ashurst, Southampton. This was conveniently on the way to our hotel, so we stopped en-route.
The first thing Baby spotted was the cool little boating lake. We paid our £2 so Baby and Mr Hubby could play pirates! Then after a quick pit stop at The Forest Kitchen Restaurant, to get Baby a snack, we set off to explore the park.
The park was quite large with lots of animals to see; animals that were a little different to the ones Baby usually sees in Zoos. The Wildlife park has a strong conservation programme and they also work with the RSPCA rehabilitating animals. They also have frequent feeding sessions, where the kids can ask the keepers questions about the animals.
Our first stop was the Butterfly enclosure. Baby wasn’t too sure about the confident Butterflies doing fly-bys on her head, but it was lovely to see all their beautiful colours.
I loved this little guy and would have loved to take him home! Baby had never seen an otter before and I think she quite liked him too. There were some baby ferrets, which were super cute!
Baby was in total awe of the huge Owls, her little face makes me laugh so much.
There was a large playground with some fabulous equipment for six years and over. It was quite an ordeal to get Baby out of there and into the smaller one suitable for her age group!
The entrance prices are really reasonable and a family of four can enjoy the park for £32.75, which is great these days!
We had a lovely time at the wildlife park and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to other families.
Disclosure: We were given free entry in return for sharing our thoughts.