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Thursday 22 August 2013

A Fantastic day out.


 Anyone in the UK who ever stops at motorway services will know about the little shelves that hold leaflets and fliers for various attractions. Some will be local to where you are , and others will not .
 I occasionally stop and have a quick flick through , picking up any that might be of interest , even if it's just to look at the flier, lol .

 At some point over the last couple of years , my collection acquired a flier for The Chestnut Centre . As hubby was off last week , and we wanted to do things , I looked through all my leaflets , went online to check prices etc , and we decided to go to The Chestnut Centre last Wednesday.

 OMG , was it a good decision or what !

 It was fairly easy to find , though the car park is a bit small . Luckily ,we got there not long after they opened so managed to park under a tree in the shade.
 The things that attracted me to this venue , were of course the animals , otters , owls ,deer and more , the location , and the fact that there is no playground/rides or other such stuff that will distract the kids from enjoying the real reason for being there .
 We have been to countless places, Monkey World, Twycross Zoo and more and every time , the kids have wanted to go on rides and stuff rather than looking at the animals . Not so this time .

 The "park" is set at the bottom of a steep valley , so it is not for anyone with mobility problems . That said , you can get around parts of it and when we were entering there was a lady on a scooter and she wasn't charged entrance fee as she wouldn't be able to get around most of it.
  It is very steep , lots of stairs up and down , lots of little bridges and lots of exposed tree roots , but if you are up for it , it is well worth it.

 On the way down to the enclosure ,we spotted a few deer in the distance , but don't worry , we got to see them a lot closer later on .
 Lovely otters .
 I think this was either Pickwick or Blue . Most of the otters have names . These were the first ones we saw actually swimming .

 Fantastic .

 These are the Giant Otters . While they are fascinating to watch, personally I prefer the smaller Asian ones . They are cuter .

 Food Time .
 Ahhhh .

 It was hard to get good photos of the owls.They were too far away and my camera kept focusing on the bars .

  The burrowing owls were rather cute too .

One of two Scottish Wildcats
 The new Pine Marten (Neil) .

  Mr Fox peeking out of his tree house .

 And the deer .

 Hiding in the brush .

  Feeding time .
  The velvet was just starting to rub off his antlers , and the poor boy was being plagued by flies. But he is so gorgeous .
  This is Spirit
  And Apricot.
 These two were very happy to be hand fed redskin peanuts by anyone who was around when the keepers were feeding . The were also happy to be stroked and petted . Absolutely amazing for kids and adults alike.

 Some of the babies
  The mama was running up the hill calling to her baby who came running down for some milk. So sweet .
 Some tree art .
 And a couple of unexpected pictures.
 This little guy was quite happy to pose for a few shots .
 And this one popped over to see if there were any leftovers from feeding time .
  Favourite shot of the day .

 The are just a few of the over 300 photos taken in one day . My hubby thanks the inventor of digital cameras ,lol .

 All in all ,an amazing day out , and well worth the £23.50 to get in . We are planning to go back.

 The centre and shop are well run , and the staff are very people friendly . Late in the afternoon ,we bumped into the keepers doing the food round, and basically followed them round for about an hour. They were very patient , talking to the kids ,answering questions and explaining things and one of them went into an owl enclosure and brought out a pellet to show us after the kids were asking about it. Fantastic!

 Can you tell we enjoyed it ?

Thanks for dropping by ,
 Cath

18 comments:

cucki said...

yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
really lovely fun day out x

Chris said...

Amazing pics Cath. It looks like you had a wonderful day out! Great job exploring your local area :)I have been checking what trip advisor has to say about local places too and I have found some great attractions.

Shirlee said...

What a fun day! I have never seen some of those animals outside of books & you got to see them in person! Great photographs! Thanks so much for sharing : )

Peggy Lee said...

So nice that your kids got to see this without the distraction of all that other stuff.
Thanks for sharing!

Catherine said...

Wonderful pics ~ sounds like you had a wonderful day!

CalamityJr said...

Wow! Wish I'd been with you!

Vickie said...

Yes, I can tell you liked it. Good for you. =)

Barb said...

Cath that place looks fabulous ,wish it was closer so I could take the grandchildren for a visit. Love the Squirrel standing to attention. Super pics of super wildlife thanks for sharing.

stitchersanon said...

Amazing: seems like my kindda place. I love otters and owls...and really like foxes but shhh. Dont tell my hens. Thank you for sharing, they are amazing pics!

Julie said...

Such a fabulous place, I've never hard of it. You've taken some amazing pics of your specs day I out.
I love the squirrel one, hubby had a birthday card a bit like that but with a very rude comment on it lol.

Barb said...

What a wonderful place for both adults and children! My DH would love it. Thanks for the many adorable photos!

Bernadett said...

Wonderful photos.:) You surely had a great day.:)

Hugs.:)

Brigitte said...

Such a wonderful day trip, for you and for the kids. Thanks for sharing all these great pictures.

Mad about Craft said...

We've passed this hundreds of times on the way to Sheffield from Cheshire and have never thought about it but it looks lovely and we'll go now. The power of blogs!

♥ Nia said...

Ooohhh those otters are soooooo cute =) adorable!!!!
I do love a pretty owl but those otters are melting my heart :)))) heheheheheh

Mouse said...

you have got some gorgeous shots there ... the otters faces are adorable and Mr Fox too but just love the one of the wee otter cleaning his pads :) love mouse xxxxx

Emma/Itzy said...

I've never heard of this place before, but it looks like you had a great day. I especially love scottish wild cats :)

Bekca said...

It's always nice when a day trip turns out even better than expected :) Thanks for sharing your lovely pictures!
Best wishes.