Twycross Zoo, Atherstone

Twycross Zoo also calls itself “The World Primate Centre, which should give you a very good idea what they are specialised in. We visited them during the summer holidays as part of an offer of the Leicestershire County, which combined a hotel stay and admission to 3 out of 5 participating local attractions. Getting there: The zoo is located along the A444, just outside the village Twycross. It is well signed out and offers ample parking facilities. If you do not have your own transport you’ll have to find your way to either Nuneaton or Ashby de la Zouch from where you can take a bus that will ... more

Twycross Zoo specialises in caring for and breeding primates, and has links with organisations trying to protect primates in the wild, and other zoos breeding them. It also tries to educate us about its apes, monkeys and lemurs, as well as non-primate creatures. Other creatures you should see here include elephants, lions, giraffes, penguins, sea-lions and otters. I have been to Twycross Zoo twice. The first time was about 25 years ago, when it was a private zoo, which relied partly for funding from the chimps making adverts for Brook Bond tea. Animal welfare concerns mean that this has now ... more

I remember well, as a child, that wonderful moment when the car rounded the corner of what seemed an endless country lane and at last I could see in the distance the outline of the elephant house and if I was really lucky, a real live elephant. I remember the excitement that I felt as we drove through the gates of the zoo and the man that sold the tickets came up to the car window and my stepdad paid us all in. I think a trip to the zoo would rate very highly on my list of favourite days out, when I was a girl. As a mother now, I love to explore new places and new experiences with my family ... more

Well actually he's not. He's taking himself and a friend to Measham car sales and Twycross Zoo just happens to be very close by so he thought he would kill two birds with one stone (I'm sure killing things and zoo's shouldn't be mentioned in the same breath now I come to think) and drop me and small person off at the zoo on the way. Twycross zoo can be found on the A444 near Atherstone in Warwickshire, just off the M42 and don't ask me to be more specific. Map reading isn't one of my specialities and as I was only a passenger I didn't pay much attention to how we got there, just that we did. I ... more

Living in Leicestershire now and only having been with my boyfriend two months, our first Valentine’s Day together was hopefully going to be a special one. So when he asked me how I wanted to spend our special day together, he was only mildly amused when I suggested a day out at Twycross Zoo! He already knows how much I love animals and particularly monkeys, so when I realised how close we now lived to Twycross Zoo and that it had been the World Primate Centre since 2006, I was desperate to go. We chose the Sunday before Valentine’s Day, but annoyingly, it turned out to be really cold, very ... more