Get your dates for Chester out there as as soon as you can, i made my first trip to Chester a few weeks ago in the company of a mob of zoochatters and believe me, what was a special visit, became much more, walking round with fellow enthusiasts. You will LOVE Chester!
There are no great general bird collections in the UK, but perhaps on your travels, fit in a wildfowl centre on your way through. WWT
Slimbridge has the largest and most interesting collection of the nine, but the Martin Mere and Washington Centres are closer to Manchester and Newcastle. Caerlaverock and Welney haven't got captive collections.
Sounds like a nice adventure you have lined up. I would not bother with Knowsley just now. It's weekends only as mentioned which is limiting your time I guess. However more so in the last 12 months or maybe a bit more its has gone into a bit of a slump. Number of animals are very much down on previous years, ground keeping isn’t as good as it had been in previous years. Also, some of the hoofstock maybe inside if it is a cold day and off show, the Roan’s, Oryx and Belsbox. If you where travelling in warmer months and it was 3 years ago I’d say really worth a trip. One place not mentioned so far and in NW England is Liverpool Museum, it has in addition to a good collection of zoology artefacts, a bug house and an aquarium.
Hi Macaw, I will be keeping your suggestion in mind and on my satnav, will let you know where i end up.
My tentative plans. Chester Zoo i have not included as i am going to go with family friends a day or so after my solo tour. Day 1 1.45min Manchester to YWP Drive 3hours Colchester Zoo Day 2 Colchester Zoo Drive 1.5 hours Whipsnade Day 3 Whipsnade Drive 2 hours Marwell Day 4 Marwell Zoo Drive 3 hours Paignton Zoo Day 5 Paignton Zoo Drive 3 hours Dudley Zoo Day 6 Dudley Zoo Drive 45 min Twycross Zoo Drive 2.15min Blackpool Zoo Day 7 Blackpool Zoo Drive 3.30min Edingburgh Zoo Day 8 Edingburgh Zoo Drive 2.40min Newcastle 24 hours driving 1350 miles
I haven't been to many of the others but Slimbridge is the original one, and original is often the best. Slimbridge is also quite close to Bristol...(half hour+ drive apart)
Could probably be added to the Blackpool day , if you get there at opening? I think overall the list contains some good choices and plenty of variety in terms of both the animal collections and the zoo types. It includes all those that I would personally consider to be the best 5 in the UK.(plus another that may well break into that group in a few years time)
I think you are being overambitious. In early December you will only have daylight from about 7.30 to 16.30 if the weather is good, which is possible but unlikely for the whole trip, and many of the zoos will only be open from 10.00 to 16.00 or thereabouts (if you haven't already done so, you should check them individually). In addition, your estimated timings for the journeys are optimistic: I think they are minimum times under good conditions. We have had a lot of fog this week, if you are unlucky it could add 50% to any of your journey times; likewise rain, sleet, hail and snow are not unknown at this time of year. Your itinerary involves motorway trips around London, Bristol and Birmingham which can be very slow between 0.700 and 10.00 and again between 16.00 and 19.00. Then there are roadworks - I encountered 3 sets on the motorways between Manchester and Birmingham last week, two of which were complicated by accidents or breakdowns, so my average speed for this trip was about 26 mph (around 40 kph). Early December is a busy time for roadworks as there is a rush to get things finished before the busy Christmas holidays and the worst weather in January. I quite understand how you want to see as much as possible in your limited time, but I think a shortened itinerary would probably let you enjoy your zoo visits more and reduce your frustrations on Britain's crowded motorways. I would suggest that you reconsider your longest distance trips to Colchester, Paignton and Edinburgh: visiting one of them should be fine and two should be OK, but I think trying to do all three might be just too much. Alan
Hi Alan, UK roads... I was thinking of doing the long drives after 8pm to avoid peak hours, roadwork fingers crossed. The weather actually I have a healthy fear of as the OZ road hazards are Kangaroos, wallabies and wombats (who cause the most damage!) not normally the weather! The "rain, sleet, hail and snow " have the potential to completely halt my trip and I hope to find the traditional English pub with hearty food and a open fire to wait out these conditions. I will definitely keep in mind flexability on the longer trips.
Just may add a flight from Southampton to Jersey! Just realised it's very doable Maybe swapping Paignton for Jersey.
Ive got to agree with a lot of the road works, early evening comments best will in the world you will probably have at best 6 hours each day for any attraction (s). If Chester is being taken out of the equation add a bit of gorillas and architecture then i would probably go this way. 1. Blackpool 2. Dudley 3. Twycross 4.Bristol 5 Whipsnade 6. London 7. Colchester 8. Yorkshire . That way there are other smaller collections en route if you have time to go and see . Staying in Newcastle you are nearer to Edinburgh Zoo than Chester.I would take Dublin off the list unless you were going to have a few days in ireland and add Belfast too. In fact looking at it and trying to sort out a trip we are rather spoilt here in the UK
Thx Gary, London and Bristol I have visited in the past couple of years all your other recommendations are on my list for Dec + Jersey where I have always wanted to go and only when planing this trip realised it was very doable after Marell.
Version 2 UK Tour 2015 with allot less driving and Jersey Zoo included! Day 1 1.45min Manchester to YWP Drive 3hours Colchester Zoo Day 2 Colchester Zoo Drive 1.5 hours Whipsnade Day 3 Whipsnade Drive 2 hours Marwell Day 4 Marwell Zoo Drive Southampton Fly Jersey Zoo Day 5 Jersey Zoo Fly Southampton Drive Dudley 3 hours Day 6 Dudley Zoo Drive 45 min Twycross Zoo Drive 2 hour Manchester Fly Edinburgh Day 7 Edinburgh Zoo Fly Manchester Drive Blackpool 1 hr Day 8 Blackpool Zoo Drive South Lakes 2hr Day 9 South Lakes Zoo Drive Newcastle 3hr
Could the weather forecast for the next two weeks get any worse! Snow, rain and of course 4pm sunsets.... Mm mm Spain
