Auchingarrich Wildlife Park Centre, Comrie, Perthshire

...lot of good things about Auchingarrich Wildlife Park by Comrie, near Crieff in Perthshire. I had a look at their website and thought it sounded quite good. Lots of lovely animals to walk around and look at, something which could be done slowly for the older members of our party but at the same time keeping the younger ones occupied; a coffee shop, definitely a good thing for the older members, a good refuelling stop and some warmth if it was cold; ...
...was decided we would visit Auchingarrich Wildlife Park on Easter Sunday.


Auchingarrich is set in 400 acres of beautiful Perthshire countryside. When we first reached the park, of course, with it being Easter Sunday it was packed and we had no choice but to park on the driveway leading up to the car park, along with many other cars. This was the first thing that caused a problem for my elderly mother-in-law as it was then quite ... more

We wanted to make Easter Sunday a big family day out, but having such a wide range of ages, tastes and abilities to cater for I was struggling a bit to find something to suit all without any moans. I had recently heard a lot of good things about Auchingarrich Wildlife Park by Comrie, near Crieff in Perthshire. I had a look at their website and thought it sounded quite good. Lots of lovely animals to walk around and look at, something which could be done slowly for the older members of our party but at the same time keeping the younger ones occupied; a coffee shop, definitely a good thing for the older members, a good refuelling stop and some warmth if it was cold; a shop, toilets, picnic areas and play areas. Could this be the right choice? I sounded everyone out and all seemed to be pleased with the choice, so it was decided we would visit Auchingarrich Wildlife Park on Easter Sunday.

Auchingarrich is set in 400 acres of beautiful Perthshire countryside. When we first reached the park, of course, with it being Easter Sunday it was packed and we had no choice but to park on the driveway leading up to the car park, along with many other cars. This was the first thing that caused a problem for my elderly mother-in-law as it was then quite a walk for her to get to the entrance, not far for us, but for the elderly yes. The drive and car park surface was very bad, almost like hardcore waiting for tar to be laid on top, big black uneven stones, this would not only cause problems for the elderly but also for those with prams, buggies and wheelchairs, making it a very difficult surface to push wheels over.

On leaving the car park you arrive at the entrance, this is situated by the shop and café, which are dark wooden buildings inkeeping with the look of the park. The entrance fee is paid through a window in the gift shop where you can also buy bags of animal food for 50p a bag. Across from the gift shop is the Pine Lodge coffee shop, which was not huge but seemed to be big enough to cope with the number of visitors. It served hot and cold drinks, snacks, sandwiches, soup etc. Just to the back of the coffee shop was the toilet block, which was the only set of toilets in the park and with only 3cubicles in the ladies I didn't really think was adequate for the size of the park. This was also where the baby changing area was situated. All were clean and well kept. The gift shop sold the usual souvenir type gifts and ice cream and lollies could also be purchased here.

The first part of the wildlife park was quite a good size with large fenced off areas and most of the walkways around the enclosures here were undercover. There was quite a good range of animals here with wallabies, meerkats, ponies, ostriches, pigs, different kinds of birds, racoon, beavers and prairie dogs, just to mention a few. The prairie dogs were real characters and seemed to enjoy entertaining everyone. They are almost like moles who play around on the surface just as much as below the ground. There must be a very extensive system of tunnels below the park with the prairie dogs literally popping up everywhere, in every field and enclosure and even on the paths right before your eyes. In fact I'm actually surprised they are not roaming around all over Scotland now! Although they were very entertaining and cute this again did cause a problem with the path surfaces, making them a bit treacherous for the elderly, very young and anyone pushing a buggy, pram or wheelchair.

Also situated in this part of the park was the hatchery. In here all the kids had a great time. There were many different species of birds hatching in here and the park rangers were all kept busy helping the kids hold little chicks and ducklings only a few days old. They all seemed to love this! Obviously there were plenty wash stations situated within the hatchery where you must wash you hands after touching the baby birds.

After completing our visit of this area of the park we stopped for our picnic. The picnic area we stopped at, as we thought it was the only one, was beside the play park and had quite a few picnic tables. We did have to wait about 15 minutes before a table became available but I think this was probably because the park was so busy with it being Easter Sunday. The picnic area and park were situated on a steep grassy slope, which again was very uneven and the grass was long and not really very well kept. I am possibly being quite fussy here but with my elderly mother-in-law being with us I was terrified she was going to fall and I also saw a family with a young child in a wheelchair really struggling with 2 family members trying hard to manoeuvre the wheelchair across the grass and up the rather steep hill.

We did venture out to the car on various occasions, to get the picnic food and to get jackets etc. and we were able to come and go freely although we had no hand stamp, ticket or receipt, in fact we had no real proof we had paid. I don't know where you would stand if you were stopped coming back into the park!

After our picnic we had a wander over to the other side of the park, situated at the other side of the buildings. This was probably my favourite part of the park. It was here that we found the other picnic area, which we wished we had known about earlier. It was a small fenced off field, still with very long grass, but much flatter, although there was no play area here. This picnic area was much quieter, obviously most people were like us and hadn't realised it was there.

There was a stream running through this part of the park, where you could see animals such as trumpeter swans, otters, Chinese water deer, and red deer. This area was much quieter and with it being such a beautiful, warm and sunny day we had a lovely wander by the enclosures. Unfortunately my mother-in-law was unable to tackle this part of the park as it was on a very steep hill with very uneven earth walkways. They were fine for us as it was such a dry day but on a wet day I would hate to think what the walking surfaces would be like. Half way up this hill was the falconry area, which I had been looking forward to visiting. It was fenced off but we were still able to see the many beautiful, majestic birds of prey chained to their standing posts through the fence. When we reached the entrance however we were very disappointed to see that you had to pay an extra charge to enter. We were so disappointed as we had already paid a substantial entrance fee for our large party and not having been overly impressed so far with the quality of the park, there was no way we were paying any more money to see animals we feel we had already paid to see.

At the top of the rather steep hill was a magnificent view of the surrounding area, overlooking the small, picturesque town of Comrie and Strathearn. Here you will also see "The Peternal Glen" Pet Cemetery. A new service offered by the park, which has proven to be a very popular final resting places for many sadly missed pets.

On your way down the other side of the hill you will pass the Broom Play Area and rain shelter, the emu enclosure and the world famous "tartan sheep", and don't forget those comical prairie dogs, who will keep you entertained all day!

If you want to give someone an unusual gift or perhaps something a bit unusual for yourself then at Auchingarrich you can adopt the animal of your choice. The adoption lasts for one year and for your money you will receive an adoption certificate with all the details of the bird or animal you have chosen, a photograph of your chosen animal, a fact sheet, a car sticker, one family ticket and a copy of the yearly newsletter. Prices range from £25 - £80 depending on the animal you choose. The money goes towards the upkeep of your chosen animal. I personally feel this is just another way of conning people out of money as the animals will be well cared for whether or not they have been adopted!

Overall we did enjoy our day out here but I think that was down to the fact that we were blessed with one of the sunniest and warmest days we had had this year, it was Easter Sunday and we were with our whole family. However, I do feel for what they offer it was very over priced. The fact that you had to pay even more to see the Falconry Centre made it even worse. I do feel the wildlife park has a lot of potential. It is set in breathtaking scenery and does have a lot of great animals to be seen but it could definitely benefit from having the car park and the driveway tarred. The play parks, although well looked after, could do with upgrading as they were very basic and the paths around the park, I feel, should be upgraded to wooden walkways, thus making it easier for the less able and also not interfering with the fun the prairie dogs have. I do appreciate there are parts of the park where it would be very difficult to upgrade the walkways, in particular the hill area of the park. It is actually possible to drive around the hill area allowing the less able to see what's on offer, however, even when walking around some of the animals were very difficult to spot and going around in a car would definitely result in missing most, if not all of the animals. They should also undeniably invest in more toilets.

It was unfortunate that my mother-in-law did have to spend most of the day in the café, although she was happy enough to do this, I did feel the £5 admission fee for seniors very steep as the park is not designed for the less able at all.

I don't think I would visit here any time soon in the near future, which I feel is a shame. As I said the wildlife park does have a lot of potential but at the moment I feel it is very highly priced for what they offer.

Admission Charges

Adults £7.50

Children £5.00

Seniors £5.00

Under 3's FREE

Family Ticket £24.00 - 2 adults, up to 4 children (rate of £5.00 applies for additional children)

Group Rates for 10 or more

Adults £6.50

Children £4.50

Seniors £4.50

Visitors in wheelchairs FREE

Carers £6.00

School Visit Rates

Pupils £3.00

Teachers Free

Parent/helpers £6.50

Open every day 10.00am to Dusk

Please note that the Coffee/Gift shop closes at 5.00pm

www.auchingarrich.co.uk

©lel1969
 

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