The Wild Place

Can I reach this...
 

For many, many years we had a family membership to Bristol Zoo Gardens , which is a super place for families and younger children to visit. In fact we've managed to continue visiting it as a student and as a teacher,  we decided to let our membership lapse as Master Pickle is now 15 and far too much a teenager for these places. On Monday the first section of the Wild Place opened, this is an off shoot from the zoo, aiming to be a huge wildlife park eventually, and today Pickle-Lily and I visited it. It's not terribly huge at the moment, but we had a lovely morning wandering around.

It is a few minutes from the M5 and a huge shopping mall but we felt like we were in the middle of the countryside.
We met the zebras and walked through a fabulous lemur enclosure with some extremely cute babies.



Are you looking at me?

 

 

We also took off our socks and shoes and trod the barefoot trail - it included stones, slates, hay, sand, mud (very cool) and crushed grass.
Such fun!

 

 

 

 

As I've already said the Wild Place isn't terribly big at the moment, but we spent a couple of happy hours there. P is already talking about going back when more is added and it seems to be the next stage from the zoo itself. It could do with better signage, so look it up first if you're planning to head that way and it isn't particularly buggy / wheelchair friendly as the paths are compacted hard core. All the staff we met were very friendly and helpful and were asking us for feedback and Pickle-Lily loved the very reasonable archery.

 P.S. After I wrote the original post P said to me, before she went to bed, that it was an amazing day and how do I go better for the rest of the summer? Better get my thinking hat on!

Today I held a cockroach

Or to be exact a hissing cockroach, and stroked a beautiful rainbow boa snake and a rat called Flash.

yes - it is real!

Today, as part of the day job I visited Bristol Zoo. We had a great time, despite the weather, hail, wind, rain and even a little bit of sun. We used to visit it lots, when Pickle-Lily and her brother were younger. But sadly big brother became too sophisticated for such places and I hadn't been for a few years.
I met lion cubs, my favourite the red panda was having his breakfast when we arrived - and lots of dinosaurs. They were a huge hit, especially the ones that squirted you with water!


cool!








 

The best part for me - I am just really proud that I held that cockroach!

Our very first post!

This is our very first post as bloggers!

Today we went to Bristol Zoo to see the new meerkat enclosure. It was very cold outside but lovely and warm inside. The meerkats seemed very excited with their new home. We love going to the zoo, in all weathers.

We then went to IKEA and stocked up on supplies and then to Hobbycraft for even more supplies! We are looking forward to our very first craft stall with Bella and the Moo at Spaxton in March. Hopefully we can tell you some more or even post some pictures of our creations soon!