Hi all, I was hoping to put together a list of all free to enter zoos in the UK. The majority are council funded but there also seems to be quite a few privately funded zoos out there. These are what I have come up with so far so please add others that I cannot think of as I know there are likely some that I have never heard of. Brent lodge nature centre Golders hill park zoo Horniman museum aquarium Manchester museum aquarium Van hages garden centre The Chequers inn Not the longest list but that is why I have asked you lovely lovely people to add your local free zoos. Thanks Stu
The Aquarium at the Horniman Museum used to be free, but you have to buy a ticket since it was rebuilt a few years ago.
New Forest Reptile Centre Lotherton Hall Bird Garden Pudsey Park Leeds Ward Park Aviarys Bangor North Ireland
Isn't Calderglen Zoo (Glasgow) free? Hazelhead Park (Aberdeen) is. Walton Hall Children's Zoo (mostly domestics) is free and Tilgate Nature Centre is virtually free. Its only a couple of quid during the season and free in winter (though donations are welcomed). Is Bolton Animal World still operational? That is/was free entry.
Closed a year or two back. Jesmond Dene Pets Corner in Newcastle is free entry, though it primarily comprises domestics.
Lotherton isn't free. Some free ones (first four are in Kingston-upon-Hull); West Park Aviaries Pickering Park Aviaries The Animal Education Centre (East Park) Pearson Park Conservatory Great North Museum: Hancock
Mevagissey Aquarium (Donations gratefully received.) Pen Y Cae inn (Have a drink in the pub.) Bournemouth Aviary. Ebbw Vale Owl sanctuary.
If you walk around Regent's Park in London there are quite a few exhibits you can see for free without actually paying to enter the zoo.
There are several species of exotic waterfowl in Regent's Park, as well as pelicans in St James's Park.
Thanks all, I'm quite surprised at how many free zoos there are in the UK. I know these will mainly be small collections having mainly domestic species though but it is interesting none the less. Having spoken to devilfish with his great zoo map of the UK most of the places labelled mini aviary/zoo will be free entry.
Johnson's Farm Shop at Old Hurst near Huntingdon (not far from the Raptor Foundation) has a free entry animal collection including red and fallow deer, ostrich, coati, white storks, and a crocodile house. Badger's Hill Farm at Chilham in Kent has an assortment of domestics plus a mixed species exhibit of red necked wallabies, mara, greater rhea, llamas and assorted poultry in a very large orchard.
If I remember right there was a set of aviaries in a park in Portsmouth, but as I only accidentally stumbled upon them on an overnight stay many years ago I can't remember where they were exactly or very much about them. The University of Northampton has (or had, again, many years ago) a small set of aviaries on their campus, mostly holding budgerigars and cockatiels. (The campus also had a thriving population of wild rabbits that had to be seen to be believed!)
I, too, remember some aviaries in a park in Portsmouth. I recall when walking along the Portsmouth coastline, away from Portsmouth Harbour and towards Southsea, there was a park on left, close to the seafront, that featured a couple of rows of aviaries. The aviaries themselves were quite nice but there were no particularly noteworthy species. Possibly these are the aviaries to which you refer. I first saw them back in the early 1970s and then again several times subsequently. However, it is many years since I was in that area so I don’t know if the aviaries are still there
These aviaries are in Victoria Park. They are still there, although even the most liberal interpretations of the word "zoo" might struggle to include them. This past summer their possible closure was suggested - Thousands of campaigners take stand against bid to axe Portsmouth Victoria Park aviary - but "several thousand" locals were "outraged" at the idea (as a regular reader of the newspaper from which this piece is taken, the frankly dire Portsmouth News*, I would take any story therein with a very large pinch of salt). (*I read it for the football rather than the in-depth analysis of local animal-related attractions!).
Thanks for your comments, “Sooty”; interesting to learn about the aviaries in Victoria Park. The aviaries in Victoria Park might well be the ones that “Crowthorne” saw; however, I am certain that they are not the ones I was thinking about. I have only been to Portsmouth a few times and it is many years since I was last there, so you know the area much better than I do. Nevertheless, after looking at a map of Portsmouth, I am sure that Victoria Park is not the right location for the aviaries that I saw; they were further away from the railway station and very much closer to the seafront. After searching the internet, I found a reference to some other aviaries in Portsmouth, in the Rock Gardens at Southsea; these aviaries were there until 1986. I think that these must be the aviaries I saw all those years ago. (Apparently these gardens have been flooded several times by the sea which would tally with my memory that they were very close to the seafront.)
