Longleat Safari Park

LONGLEAT SAFARI PARK

Every year around my youngest birthday in July it has been a family tradition for her dad to take her and her sister out for the day, last year I joined them as it was my daughters 21st birthday; this year I went along again and this time we visited Longleat Safari Park. It is not a problem going along with my ex husband as we have always remained friends since our divorce.

Before our visit we checked ...
...park is right next to Longleat House and all the other attractions. There is a lovely grassed area for you to have a picnic on before you start the next phrase of your visit.

My daughters go ahead of us here and head towards the Victorian kitchen to get the wheelchair I had requested. For some reason the lady who took my order over the phone did not pass my details onto the shop; we were lucky as they had some chairs left, my daughter ... more

LONGLEAT SAFARI PARK

Every year around my youngest birthday in July it has been a family tradition for her dad to take her and her sister out for the day, last year I joined them as it was my daughters 21st birthday; this year I went along again and this time we visited Longleat Safari Park. It is not a problem going along with my ex husband as we have always remained friends since our divorce.

Before our visit we checked on their website for the prices and contact no. so we could ring them up to book a wheelchair for me. Booking the wheelchair was very simple over the phone, they just took my name and advised me on where to collect it when we get to the park, and they also advised us on what we would need to leave as security when we claimed the chair.

~~Our Visit~~

We live in Shropshire so we set off really early at 0730hrs to get there for around 1100hrs, the park itself opens at 1000hrs during the summer months, but some of the other attractions open a little later around 1030 - 1100hrs. That's ok as you drive around the safari park first.

On arrival you buy your tickets (or show or online ticket), we decided on the passport ticket which gave us access to the park, the house and all the attractions; I just had to show my blue 'disabled' badge to get my disability concession (for my carer). This all took a matter of seconds and we were provided with a CD, which gives us a guided commentary of the safari park.

Tickets in our hands, disc in the CD player and we are on our way. The first section we come to is the Wallaby walk, we are lucky we manage to get a parking space; it is very congested here as cars are trying to get in and out of spaces in between the flowing traffic, or should I say stationary as it waits for people to maneuver. As we have been on the road for a while we stay for a few minutes to grab a snack from our picnic and the girls nip out to take some photographs.

You can walk around here and go and visit the wallaby's; I had to give this a miss as I could not manage to walk and we had not collected the wheelchair for me yet. Also from this standpoint you could see the giraffes from the viewing area, so as they are my daughters favorites she went off to take the first few hundred photographs (thank goodness for digital cameras). There was also a shop where you could also get food and drink, also toilets for your last pit stop until the end of the safari.

Well watered and fed we headed on our way onto the slow drive around the safari to look at the animals; the first thing I noticed was there seemed to be a long distance between the animals compared to Woburn Safari Park. I may be wrong, but it just seemed that way.

I won't go into graphic details on all the animals we saw, but I will give you some of our highlights. The CD was very good at telling you about each animal as you came to it around the safari; not long into our journey an Ostrich came wondering up to the cars trying to get its head into the windows, I presume looking for food, it was wonderful to have one that close to us as I had only ever seen them on the TV before.

The road is one way and you can go two abreast which allows you to stop and take photos at various opportunities of which I think my girls took nearly 300 photos with my camera, they also took an equal amount with their dad's camera as well. It was nice seeing the flamingo's here, I had only seen them in Dudley Zoo in this country before. I have seen them in their natural habitat on the salt rivers in Spain, so it is nice to see them close up, they are such majestic birds.

The lions today seemed very tired as they were all just lying down sleeping; it was the same with the tigers as well. It was a warm day and I was grateful for the air conditioning in the car; maybe it was the heat that was making the animals lethargic. We missed out the monkey's, but we could see that they weren't hot and tired as they were jumping on the cars and playing about, my hubby would have gone mad if I got the car scratched or damaged so we gave them a miss and enjoyed watching them messing with other peoples.

One of our highlights was the Canadian Timber Wolf, we saw them play fighting and with their really cute cubs, we did take loads of photos, but someone had a shaky hand and they came out a little blurred.

Our final highlight and possibly all our favourite was the deer park. Here we bought a few cups of deer food at £1.00 per cup and each hand fed the deer, they simply surrounded your car and put their heads through the windows to get to the food. They even let you stroke them whilst you were feeding them. We all enjoyed this especially when the young fawns came up to the car as well. As there are a lot of cars parked up feeding and a queue of cars waiting to come in as well, with deer walking in and around the cars you have to take great care with your driving.

You also got to see the White Rhino, Ankole, Black Buck, Camels, Zebra and other animals around the safari. Also on every section of the safari you will see the black and white striped land rovers parked up with a ranger inside. They are there to watch over the animals and look after your safety, but as long as you follow the parks guide lines you should never really need their assistance, but saying that should you break down then follow the guidelines by beeping your horn and staying inside your car, they will come to your aide.

You need to allow yourself approximately 90 minutes to cover the safari park and please remember to use a bit of common sense for example soft top cars and motorbikes will not be allowed in. You don't necessarily have to have a car to go around the safari park; they do offer a Safari Bus Service, which there is a charge for on top of your entrance fee. This is a limited service so it is wise to advise them on purchasing your ticket that you will require it as it is on a first come first serve basis, so is very much subject to availability.

Dogs including working (service) dogs are not under any circumstances allowed in the safari park, so if you have taken them with you, they will have to be put in the kennel for the duration of the safari park visit only.

Price for the Safari park only is £11.00 per adult.
£5.50 for disabled/adult carer
£8.00 for children
£4.00 for disabled child/carer
£8.00 for 60 + and £4.00 if 60+ and disabled/carer

After visiting the Safari Park we drove around to the enormous car park, they even have an excellent amount of disable parking spaces. The car park is right next to Longleat House and all the other attractions. There is a lovely grassed area for you to have a picnic on before you start the next phrase of your visit.

My daughters go ahead of us here and head towards the Victorian kitchen to get the wheelchair I had requested. For some reason the lady who took my order over the phone did not pass my details onto the shop; we were lucky as they had some chairs left, my daughter left her debit card with them for security, this was placed in a sealed envelope which would stay sealed until she returned with the chair (before 4pm that day when it closed). You could leave your car keys, instead of a card but she did not have them on her. As I am talking about the wheelchair, I will point out that it is fairly wide and my rather large rear end fitted very comfortably on it, I did not feel at all cramped.

I am not necessarily going around in the order of our day, but I will cover everything we did do and some that we didn't get around to.

~~Longleat House~~

They advise you to allow an hour to cover the whole house; I would advice a little bit longer if you are disabled as you have to wait for short periods of time to be moved from floor to floor.

For able bodied persons entry is from the magnificent front door, where you either purchase your ticket or show your passport ticket. They operate a free-flow system, so once your ticket has been seen you just go with the flow and move around the great house.

As I am in a wheelchair our family unit went to the Victorian Kitchen and asked to visit this wonderful stately home which was built between 1567 and 1580 and is the home of Alexander Thynn (the 7th Marquess of Bath). The kind lady advised us to go out to the corridor and she would get a member of staff to take us to the lift. We had only waited a couple of minutes when a lady came to us and took us to the service lift. The lift took the four of us and the lady up to the next floor, she then advised us on the direction to go, and when we have finished viewing that level to ask one of the assistants to radio up for someone to take us to the next floor.

I could write a whole review just on the house itself as it was absolutely beautiful with its wonderful artwork and design features unique to the various periods of history. It is totally awe inspiring to step back through time in such a wonderfully preserved building and its contents.

Amongst all the beautiful desks and tables were some modern day photographs of the currant Marquis's family.

I was starting to get a bit of a stiff neck looking up at the picturesque ceilings, when one of the very helpful guides offered me a mirror which I could put on my lap and move it around so I could see them more easily. I thought this was a wonderful gesture and he advised me to request on again in the next room from the assistant in there as well.

The guides in each room were only too happy to help you and tell you the history of the room and the furnishings displayed; at the end of our visit to the floor we did not have to ask for help as the guides were looking out for us and when they thought we were ready they kindly approached us and asked if we needed the lift and again we only waited 1-2 minutes before someone was taking us up in the lift to the next level of the house.

The lady in the lift pointed out a 400yr old wooden (beetle eaten) beam, which we would have missed by using the lift (we could just see it as we passed the floor, as this is a service lift with trellis style doors.

I loved the entire house, some of my favourite items were the Robes Corridor where you can see the wonderful exhibition including ceremonial dresses, coronation robes and crowns etc; so beautiful and so much work must have gone into making these.

The Nursery was another favourite of mine it was very prettily decorated in pastel blue and white. The lace work and the cradle were magnificent. The family portraits around the room were worth a mention to.

The one thing that really stands out with the bedrooms is how high the beds are, but also how short and narrow they were as well. It would be lovely just to try one and see how uncomfortable or comfortable they might be, but sadly due to preservation that can't be done.

One of the guides advised us about the tapestry's hanging on one of the walls, saying that they had recently had a historian in to give them an idea of the ages of them, they were told that they were several years older than they originally thought and much older than the house itself.

The whole visit to the house was made more special thanks to the wonderful and helpful staff.

There are some things you need to know about accessibility with the house. During school holidays and the busy bank holidays, they only open the ground floor of the house; this is due to the sheer number of visitors that arrive during these times.

Also pushchairs are not allowed inside the house, and wheelchairs are limited to only 3 on one floor a time for safety reasons. Because of pushchair rule they have a limited number of hip rests (not quite sure what they are like) available for loan for children aged 6mths - 3yrs.

The wonderful gardens are designed by Capability Brown, who did many, many stately homes and castles that I have visited. They are well worth a walk around and take a look at the very pretty topiary.

If you don't have a passport ticket and you want to pay to visit here only then it costs
£10.00 per adult
£5.00 per disabled adult/carer
£6.00 per child - £3.00 for disabled/carer
£6.00 for 60+ - £3.00 for disabled/carer

The grounds and gardens can be seen separately on their own without visiting the safari park or the house, the fees for this are

£3.00 for adults
£1.50 for disabled adults/carer
£2.00 for Children and OAP's
Free for child and OAP disabled/carer.

~~Adventure Castle~~

This is a medieval style castle adventure playground to entertain children up to the age of 14yrs. Allow at least 30 minutes for your children to enjoy the adventure playground with its bridges, nets, swings and other things to crawl around on and climb over.

The area itself is wheelchair and pushchair friendly and it does have height restrictions on some of the activities, not all activities are wheelchair friendly.

£3.00 for children
£1.50 for children disabled/carer

~~Hedge Maze~~

I couldn't visit this due to it not being accessible to wheelchairs or pushchairs. My girls have been through it on a previous visit, it is what it says a Maze where you have to find your way to the middle. How long will it take you, well that depends on how good you are at navigating a large maze? May be an hour, or in my case may be a few days, lol.

They put six wooden bridges, which you can go onto to help you look over the top of the maze to try and assist you to reach the observation tower in the middle.

Prices are

£3.00 for adults, children and OAP
£1.50 for adults, children and OAP disabled /carer

~~Pets Corner~~

My girls and I went around pet's corner, whilst their dad went for the train ride. The first thing we saw in here was a beautiful big blue parrot and someone kindly offered to take a picture of the 3 of us by it.

It is easy to push chairs or buggy's around here. You or your children get to touch some of the animals, when the keepers get them out, on our visit the keeper was holding a chameleon which we were allowed to stroke, she would also answer any questions you had about it. During our visit we saw a large bird caged up all on its own away from all the other parrots, so we asked the keeper why he was kept apart and they informed us, it didn't have a problem with the other birds, it just didn't like children, ooops.

Prices for this area are

£3.00 for adults, children and OAP's
£1.50 for adults, children and OAP's disabled/carer

Allow at least 30mins for taking your children into this area, maybe a little longer if they have a demonstration on with the parrots.

~~Butterfly Garden~~

They do say that this is wheelchair friendly, but I walked with my stick around here as it is only a small area, it is also very narrow and gets quite crowded as it is situated at the rear of the shop selling butterfly regalia.

As it is a tropical area, it is very hot and humid, you get to see the various butterflies flying around and settling right next to your. Worth taking a look as it is not often you get that close to them.

It only takes a few minutes to go round maybe 10-15mins.

Prices if you haven't got a passport ticket

£2.00 for adults, children and OAP's
£1.00 for adults, children and OAP disabled/ carer

~~Longleat Railway~~

To travel on the train you go to the 1950's style platform, which has been decorated to look authentic; the train is a recreation of the age of steam, but obviously scaled down, it takes you on a short trip through the park and back, it only lasts approx 10mins. I asked my ex and he said he enjoyed the ride on it and everyone was waving to the boats as they past them. This is a fun journey for you little ones.

Access is limited as they only have room for one wheelchair per journey and pushchairs have to be left at the station for collection on your return.

Prices

£3.00 for adults, children and OAP's
£1.50 for adult, children and OAP disabled/carer

~~Safari Boats~~

I really did enjoy our safari boat ride; if you are able bodied it is just a short walk from the main house and down some steps; if you have a pushchair or are in a wheelchair then just follow the sign posts with the disabled symbol on which direct you to the boat area. This route takes you on a pleasant journey through the gardens and towards the queue for the safari boats.

Even the queuing is really pleasant as you get to see the mearcats whilst you wait. Just before you board the boat there is an area where you can leave your pushchairs.

Although the boat trip only lasts around 15mins it is peaceful and eventful. You get to see the playful sea lions who like to swim around the boat and show off for your attention. The boat sails past Gorilla Island and you get to see Longleats' only gorilla Nico (he lost his partner last year, I think). He has his own little house and satellite TV; he walked about for us and looked very majestic. Apparently he loves watching us as much as we love watching him.

We were also lucky enough to see the sea lion cubs on the side of the lake, also the hippo's that were just peeping out of the water. I also got a lovely picture of a heron that was just standing there posing for the camera.

I never timed the trip, but according to the internet it lasts approx 10-15mins, I felt it lasted longer and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Prices
£3.00 per adult, child or OAP
£1.50 per adult, child or OAP disabled/carer

Again the staff was extremely helpful at getting me on and off the boat.

~~Postman Pat Village~

We didn't visit here as we had no younger children with us; it was re-opened after some work and relocation earlier this year. It is wheelchair and pushchair friendly and it is where your little ones can visit Greendale Village and see Postman Pat, Jessie the cat, Mrs Goggins, Reverend Timms and PC Selby.

£2.00 for children
£1.00 for child disabled/carer

~~Old Joes Mine~~

My eldest and I went into here, it is a very short visit and I was not keen on the bats flying around and I kept ducking. The keeper advised us that they would not land on us, but that didn't stop you bowing your head every time they flew past. There is a little shop selling 'bat' gifts as you enter and come out the other side door.

The website says allow 15 mins, but to be honest I would say it only felt like 5 minutes, maybe 10 at the most. I am glad I went in here as I got to see them up close.

It is accessible to wheelchair users.

Prices are

£2.00 for adult, children and OAP
£1.50 for adult, children and OAP disabled/carer

~~Motion Simulators~~

Not wheelchair or pushchair friendly and also has a minimum height restriction of 4ft (1.2m). To be honest it was not working on the day of our visit so we did not get to experience it.

According to the website they run two simulators throughout the busy summer and bank holiday periods. The blue one is a 'cosmic coaster' a futuristic roller coaster ride. On the white simulator you will enjoy a ride in the Veruga Mountains of Africa.

Prices are
£2.00 for adults, children and OAP's
£1.00 for adults, children and OAP's disabled/carer

Note passport holders only get a free ride on one of the simulators.

~~Tea Cup Ride~~

This is a little roundabout ride for the younger children.

Prices

£1.00 for children
£0.50 for children disabled/carer

~~King Arthur's Mirror Maze~~

I wanted to go in here for a laugh, but I couldn't get anyone to go in with me.

From reading about it, it sounds like a fun adventure where visitors become the Knights of the Round Table and try to locate the Holy Grail. Mysterious apparitions appear around you as you go round. It sounds like great fun and uses your child's imagination; best of al it is accessible to all and free to go in.

~~Life and Times of Henry, Lord Bath Exhibition~~

My poor daughter pushed me up a steep ramp for me to look at this exhibition; it was a simple display of artifacts used throughout his life, telling their own story.

It wasn't a big display and would only a take a few minutes of your time to take a look. It is accessible to all but does have that steep ramp at each end and it is also free to take a look.

~~Family Bygones Exhibition~~

Another small display of every day items, the family and servants would have used. This is just inside the house and to be honest if I had not been the chair, we may have missed it. It is nice to see what was used by people years ago, but I do prefer to see them working or being demonstrated as it brings the items to life. This one is also free to see and informative.

~~Mystical Garden~~

This is another free attraction and it is a natural garden which has been designed to entertain and attract the younger visitors. Sadly I didn't get to see this (I am a child at heart) and it is accessible to all.

~~Scale Model of Longleat House~~

This is housed in a room opposite the Victorian Kitchen and it is what is says a perfect model of the real thing. You can press a button on a panel for example the Grand Hall and it will light up the location of it on the house on the model.

There are a couple of stone steps you have to climb to get inside to see this; it is free and worth taking a look, you really don't appreciate just how big Longleat house is until you see this scaled down model.

~~State Chariot~~

Another free exhibit where you get to see the gold coloured chariot and the mannequins dressed in the correct livery worn to the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.

~~Further Information~~

Just briefly they have a fantastic web site with interactive sections for your children to enjoy, just visit www.longleat.co.uk and take a look. You can print off pictures for your children to colour in and get ready for their visit, alternatively visit the site after your visit to Longleat and keep the trip alive for a little longer.

Toilets are available at a couple of locations around the site; we found these to be very clean and kept well supplied even with lots of visitors there as well.

Longleat also arrange group visits, both educational and corporate fun days; there are various rooms for hire should you wish to get married here, or hold a special event, conference or banquet. There website goes into greater detail for your perusal should you be interested.

~~Opening Times~~

Longleat House is open all year apart from Christmas Day; The Safari Park is open between March and November; both have various opening and closing times depending on the time of year so it would be worth checking their web site to find out prior to your visit, but in general the park opens around 1000hrs.

~~Prices~~.

I have listed these as individual prices throughout, but you can save a fortune with a Passport ticket if you want to take advantage of the majority of the attractions of offer and enjoy a full day out. All these are 2008 prices.

£22.00 for Adults
£11.00 for Adults disabled/carer

£16.00 for Children age 3-14yrs and OAP's
£8.00 for Children and OAP disabled/carer.

They do group rates as well for parties of 12 or more. There is also a saving of a further 5% if you buy on line (once bought you can take your visit anytime during that season).

~~Where can I eat~~

I have already mentioned the picnic area; there are also some fast food outlets around the courtyard these include, a hot dog stand, healthy sandwich bar and a chicken burger place.

There are also a couple of restaurants the Cellars Restaurant and the Wessex Pavillon.

Prices here are a bit expensive at 3.25 for a hot dog or 6.50 for a baguette, fries and a small drink.

~~Gift Shops~~

There are a few gift shops about the site, to encourage you and your children to part with your pocket money. Apart from the ones mentioned you have four bigger ones which are spaced around the site these are:-

The Victorian Kitchen Shop
Lady Bath's Shop
Castle Gift Shop and Noah's Ark Gift Shop.

~~VIP Tours~~

At 78.00 per person and you get a VIP Day out; there are no minimum numbers required (when we had the one at Woburn it was a minimum of 4 persons). For this money you get a guided tour with a warden in one of their 4 x 4 safari vehicles. You get fast tracked through the entrance (great on a busy day), your passport ticket, free guide brochure (normally £5.00) and a free cream tea (Yum).

These trips are run twice daily; I haven't experienced the one here, but if it is anything like the one we did last year at Woburn then it would be a great special treat.

~~Special Events~~

It is worth taking a look at their website if you get the time, because at various times they hold special events, for example the Longleat International Horse Trials, The Summer Show (which is running now until the end of August) and Santa Special Trains. There are just a few examples you may like to tie into your visit schedule.

~~How To Get There~~

Longleat is on the A362 Warminster to Frome road which is just off the A36 between Bath and Salisbury.

For those with a Sat Nav the address is

Longleat
Warminster
Wiltshire
BA12 7NW

The Website advises that when you get closer to Longleat ignore your sat nav and follow the brown tourist signs.

The nearest Railway Station is 5 miles from Longleat in Warminster; this is on the Cardiff to Portsmouth Line. If you are coming from London direction then you may need the Paddington to Penzance line which takes you into Westbury 12miles out of Longleat.
Both these stations have taxi ranks.

If you take a look at their web site it gives you local taxi firm's phone numbers and a link to AA Auto route for directions.

~~Conclusion~~

We did have a lovely day and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a wonderful family day out. My youngest was a little disappointed as you can only go around the safari once, and I do have to agree with her as you don't always notice everything on your first trip round, so by going around again you are on the look out for animals you didn't pay much attention to the first time. When we did Woburn we went round 3 times.

Although she was a little miffed about going round once, if we had been able to go round again, we would never had time to do all the other things we managed to fit in.

I hope you enjoyed sharing our day out with us as much as we enjoyed it.

Thank you for reading my review

Lyn x
Arnoldhenryrufus. 

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