Yesterday the sun was shining and we were adamant that we wanted to make the best of it. After rifling through our collection of ‘days out’ leaflets, we decided on the Cotswold Wildlife Park, which is about an hour north of where we live.
The first animals we came across were these amazing giant Tortoises. They were fabulous and seemed almost unreal to me, due to their sheer size. I could have stayed to watch them for ages.
One major difference between this wildlife park and others, is how close you feel to all the animals. A lot of the enclosures have low electric fences with ditches next to them, which means you can get up close and personal and take photo’s without worrying about trying to see through the fencing. Next stop was the Meerkats and Camels. We were so lucky with the timing of our visit, as we saw lots of baby animals.
We headed through the trees towards to Giraffe enclosure and got there just as the keeper was feeding them. They have a brilliant ramped area, so at the top you are head height to the Giraffes. Baby was so intrigued. It was so great to see them roaming about in their lovely big paddock.
Next stop Rhino’s! We were so close and were treated to another little baby.
We wandered through a wooded area and saw lots of different types of birds and even a Wolverine! (check out the little black chap on the left hand side), but don’t be fooled by his cute appearance. Wolverines are ferocious and can kill animals many times their size, yikes! The children’s farm area was lots of fun and we met an amazing furry pig, plus some rabbits, donkeys, goats and ponies.
We thought Baby needed to stretch her legs and so we let her lose in the goat petting area. Walking is very serious work apparently!
This is the first time Baby has walked by herself on a day out. It was fabulous and strange all at the same time.
I watched in amasement, as my little baby waddled around on her new found walking legs. So many aspects of us as a family will change and evolve, now baby is a little lady.
Onto Madagascar, an enclosed walk through area that housed free range animals and little Lemur babies. They are clinging onto their mum, adorable!
Baby loved pottering around and pointing at all the animals.
I am still getting used to seeing her like this.
I loved our trip, it is a magical place. I am not sure if that was due to being so close to the amazing animals, being with my lovely family or seeing Baby toddle round on an outing for the first time. Regardless, we all had a fabulous day out together and I am sure it is a place we will return to many times.
I am linking up with the following fabulous bloggers and their lovely linkys.
Katie from Mummy Daddy Me for #OrdinaryMoments
Jaime at The Olivers’ Madhouse for #MagicMoments
Charly at Podcast Dove for #What’sTheStory
Fiona at Coombe Mill for #CountryKids
Comments 70
She looks so grown up walking around, bet she slept well after all that exercise.
I can’t believe you were so close to is and you didn’t pop in for a cuppa though *shakes her fist* 😉 xx
Author
I know, sooo scary! She actually had a crap night! – Strange child. Oh my geography is so bad I didn’t even realise that Cheltenham was near there 🙂 #Dunce xx
Oh wow it looks beautiful there, your so lucky to have such a fab wildlife park near by. (popped over from magic moments)
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We are lucky as Marwell is 45 mins south and this place is an hour North. x
Some fabulous animals (love the meerkats!) and so lovely to see Baby walking too!
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She did so well on the uneven terrain! 🙂 Thanks x
Awww a lovely place! Thanks for posting photos of those Giraffes cuz they are my fave animal ever! =) #magicmoments
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Amazing place! It was fab to be so close to the giraffes x
Looks like a fab place. I adore animals and so do the boys. We dont really have a zoo near us. I love all the toddling pictures too
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Thank you. It is our new favourite day out place x
Aww! That looks like a great place to visit! Those Tortoises look huge!
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They were massive and even more incredible looking when they went on their toes and walked. x
aaw i love meerkats, we were actually recently discussing when would be the best time to take our little one to the zoo or farm, didnt agree on anything yet
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I think we first took Baby when she was quite young and we do go to animal places quite often x
Looks like a lovely day out made even more magical by baby having a toddle!
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It certainly was x
You managed to get some really fantastic photographs. What a great idea to limit the fencing so you can get such a great view. It is lovely to see so many baby animals and a toddling Baby too!
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Thanks. It was brilliant, I have never had such a wonderful view x
Your photos are brilliant. It’s wonderful that you could get so up close to the animals (loving the red hair) x
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Thank you (re hair and photos), it is such a unique place x
oh i love yur pics , its nice to se people keeping memories like this they grow so quickly x
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Thank you. I just want her to know how much we loved her every day x
Awesome photos! That place looks amazing – so much so that I just looked up how far away it was – an hour and ten minutes! I’m putting it on the summer bucket list!
I love going out now that the kiddos are walking – so cute to see them exploring and deciding where they want to go next xx
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Thank you. It is well worth the visit x
Oh she’s walking! That’s amazing, and what a place to do it as well! I’m sticking it on my day’s out list too. What a lovely group of animals.
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Yes she took her first steps about 7 weeks ago, but last weekend started linking up and then did big stints x
That looks like a great wildlife park. Such a wide variety of animals to see.
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It is amazing! x
Ah yes, we’ve been there – fab place! I know just what you mean, as you do feel close to them and it’s got such a relaxing feel to it. Love the photos of Baby on the move and your hair looks lovely x
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I loved it, we will definitely be going again. Thanks hun x
Independence! I love that top she’s wearing and that first photograph her eyes look an amazing shade of blue. I haven’t been to Cotswold Wildlife Park even though it’s not too far away, but it looks great so I really must try to make it there soon.
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Thanks (it’s Monsoon). She has got very blue eyes. You should go it is brilliant x
Looks amazing, we went to a fab zoo when we were on our hols the other week .x
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It is really great. I hope you had fun x
She looks so serious when she’s toddling bless her 😉
Looks like a great place to visit x x
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I know it is so funny! Such an amazing place x
I used to adore Cotswold Wildlife Park as a child – one day I want to go back and see how it has changed, it looks like it may have got a lot bigger 🙂 x
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We loved it, very special place x
wow this place looks fab! Love the fact you can get so up close to the animals im heading over to check out their website now! Looks like yu had a lovely time!
Jess
http://owlcrazymummy.blogspot.co.uk
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It is! You should definitely go if it is not too far away from you x
Ahh, never seen a baby camel before! How cute! Looks like a fab place to visit for a family day out.
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It is a brilliant family day out x
A wonderful day out! It’s great to hear that Cotswold WP is having such success with their breeding programme – lots of lovely babies to coo over. Lovely photos of your little lady toddling around, definitely a special day to remember. Thanks for linking up and sharing with Country Kids.
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There were so many lovely babies. Thank you, she enjoyed toddling around with the goats x
What a gorgeous post! Love all the animals you captured and great that you got to see all the babies. Giraffes are a personal favourite of mine. She is really enjoying herself pottering about. A beautiful smile. #countrykids
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Thank you so much. It was such a lovely day x
The Cotswold Wildlife Park looks awesome, and your pictures are beautiful! You’re right it’s kind of weird when they start to go off under their own steam, the baby days go so fast!
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Too quickly for me I think. Thank you. x
Aww she is gorgeous and you can see really growing up. Thank you for sharing as my little boy may be visiting with his school soon.
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Thank you. Oh he will love it, so much fun x
Oh my goodness!! How adorable is your little lady!! <3 The pictures are amazing and it looks like a wonderful place to visit xx
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Aww thanks hun. I think so, but I’m biased 🙂 It is such a lovely place xx
Always so magical when they walk for the first time unaided and in such a beautiful setting too. Gorgeous pictures and looks like a stunning day for a trip there #countrykids
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The weather was so beautiful. She really enjoyed her toddle x
Awww I want to go and see the babies, especially the rhino baby! I’d love to see the meerkats as well.
Well done to baby walking on her own 🙂
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Thank you, it is such a lovely place x
I would love to take Maxwell here. He adores animals and this wildlife adventure park looks lots of fun. Thank you for sharing.
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You should definitely go if you can, it was such a lovely day x
Brilliant! What a fabulous day out and I really like the photos of the tortoise too!
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I would recommend it to anyone, such a great day. x
What an amazing place! I would love to visit. I cannot wait to get the girls to the wildlife park near us this summer.
p.s i LOVE your hair colour 🙂 x
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It is so fabulous hun. Thanks that is kind x
Oh wow Cotswold Wildlife Park sounds absolutely amanzing, I love all the photos. What a wonderful day you had. Fabulous to see baby walking round all by herself too. Lovely post, thank you so much for sharing with #whatsthestory
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We loved it, such a wonderful, magical place. Thanks, hubby responsible for most of the photos. x
I used to live just a few miles from the Cotswold Wildlife park and as a child I would cycle there and was able to sneak in the back gate without paying! It looks like some of it is even better than when I was last there, especially the lemurs which were in cages. Is the little train still there?
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We love it. Oh the Lemurs are in Madagascar now, which is a free range area and they just roam about. Yes the train is there, we will do that next time x
What beautiful photos Aby and you look like you had a wonderful day. Baby is looking so grown up now she is tottering about. And she looks so happy. 🙂 x
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Thanks hun. It was such a great day, highly recommended x
lovely photos! looks like a great day out x
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Thank you. It is really fabulous, bit too far for you though x