Cotswold Wildlife park rough and tumble with friends

April has to be one of the best months. It’s the start of (hopefully) more consistently good weather, and this weekend was certainly a great start to the month.  With 20C both days, we were lucky in that we’d already agreed to meet up with friends and go out for the day. So it was lining up to be a great day outdoors.  Picnics at the ready, we picked them up and headed off to an old favourite Cotswold Wildlife Park.

On arrival it wasn’t far off lunchtime but we managed to hold the boys off with a walk over to see the large animals.  The giraffes were avoiding all the crowds, so no nice photos like last time, although we did get to see the lion, lioness and their cubs enjoying the sun.

The rhinos were also enjoying their sunbathing and the camels were shedding but obviously feeling happy in the warmth.  N likes the zebras, but this time he was more focused on getting to the train.

Of course being boys in wide open spaces, there was a lot of running, hiding, jumping out and rolling around on top of each other.  N did manage to carry the picnic rug a lot of the way which I was impressed with.

The birds weren’t that much of a draw, but we were lucky to see 2 of the wolves roaming around their enclosure. I don’t think we’ve ever seen any at Cotswold Wildlife Park so it was nice to see them stalking around.  N’s friend wanted to know what would happen if he threw his hat in…yep, that’d be a lost hat, because none of us would be going in to get it!

We thought we’d have to wait in a big queue for the train, but we were fine just to get on the returning one. If you’re someone who gets chilly, sit at the front of a carriage where you get a bit more shelter from the wind.  The journey was only short, but the boys loved it, and N was even happy to let me have a photo. Only me though, not my friend. He’s fickle, my son!

We’d bought our picnic lunches with us so it was just a decision on where to set ourselves down. We decided on the grass outside the restaurant and by the playground.  Surprisingly with the lure of the equipment the boys did sit down and eat nicely, demolishing pretty much everything put in front of them.  It turns out N is a Pringles monster.  I wonder where he gets that from (ahem)?  While it was really busy with everyone out in the sun for the Easter holidays we didn’t feel hemmed in.

Then it was adventure playground time.  They have a great playground at Cotswold Wildlife Park segmented into different areas so children of different ages have age appropriate equipment. We also liked that most is under the shade which is great in hot weather.

We tried to hold off ice creams as long as possible but the boys really weren’t keen on checking out the monkeys. It was all about the ice creams.  They were good even though we had to queue for a while.  In the meantime, the boys had climbed onto a tree and had made a little friend. Until N read a sign saying don’t climb the tree so got down, leaving the other 2 behind. My goody two shoes – he’s so my son.

Ice creams eaten there wasn’t much else we wanted to see.  A quick check on the penguins who were being fed in front of a huge audience. We did manage to squeeze into a spot but after a short watch the boys were ready to go home.

I couldn’t resist taking flower photos on the walk round too.

It felt like we hadn’t really seen much by the time we left, even though we’d spent nearly 5 hours there.  It was just wonderful to be out in the sun and enjoying time to relax with friends.

Let’s hope for more sunny days out with friends over the summer.

Can you recommend any wildlife parks or have you been to Cotswold Wildlife Park before?

Why not take a look at these related posts

• Places to see animals in the UK
• Days out in Gloucestershire
• Cotswold Farm Park visit