One of the lovely member of the Community Outreach Team for Superbreak.com kindly asked me if my family would like an opportunity to go to one of the great attractions from one of their fabulous day's out selection .
We are always looking for somewhere fun to take the kids especially when they are off school so we were very excited in picking a place to go.I got sent a list of some great places to visit like Cadbury World, Chester Zoo, the London Eye, the London Dungeons and lots of other great days out.
As we have tried out lots of places on the list and have tickets to go to London Dungeon today we decided it was going to be between Chester Zoo and Cabury World hmm chocolate or animals....as we are trying to be good for our marathon we already have booked in Chester in 7 weeks we decided to make it Chester Zoo 'city breaks' so we could also have a look around the streets we will be running along very soon.
After over sleeping on the day, due to a really warm and restless night we eventually got up put our summer clothes on (as the sun was shining!!! ) and set out at 8-15.We drove to Chesterfield train station but missed the train by 2 minutes,typical when in a rush!!
As my mother in law lives nearby we managed a short visit and ended up with a goodies bag of yummy food to share on the train so everything turned out OK in the end..Lucky at Manchester it was only a short wait till the Chester train came in.At Chester we managed to get a bus ticket from the train station that only cost £6-00 for a family of 4 return which I thought was great value.
On the train my daughter was saying she was so looking forward to seeing the elephants.What a great surprise that they were one of the first animals we got to see, they were so sweet we loved watching them and could have easily stay looking at them for hours.They were mine and my daughters favourite animals of the day.
On the journey from Manchester to Chester we realised that the great British weather typically decided to change and we were not dressed for the weather that was thrown upon us.Every mile it started to rain and rain until we arrived at Chester it was a downpour so us lot in our summer dresses and shorts maybe looked a little out of place but we were not going to let the weather stop our fun...
One of the places I was looking forward to visiting was the butterfly house. I visited a butterfly house earlier this year and loved it. Both my children were scared of the butterflies coming near them.
This time around they knew what to expect and I was so proud they stayed in and learnt all about the butterflies.I loved the big blue ones that looked amazing but they were to quick for me to take a picture of them.
How sweet is this monkey...he was sat all alone watching the other ones play....
Pink flamingos are adorable I always love to watch them...
Looks so peaceful I'm glad this little madam had eaten lunch already...
Did I mention rain!! we waited in the green houses for a while until it slowed down...
This is how much rain fell as this was the pathway to the exit,even the little ducks thought it was home..
What we thought of the zoo:
According to the official blurb there are over 8000 animals and 400 different species in the zoo.
I would say ideally it's a two day visit to fully appreciate all that's on offer to see. What I really liked is that the animals had plenty of space and the habitat was as close to their natural environment as possible. Unlike some Zoos where they seem to just have two of everything, at Chester Zoo they had actual colonies of many animals and you really felt they had good natural living conditions.
We loved the zoo it was a great day out. The weather was a downer, on the plus side though it means we will be back soon to fully explore on a warm day.
All of the animals looked well taken care of and content with their homes.
We would recommend a good pair of walking shoes and a camera, arrive early and leave late to maximise your trip.
Another good point is that like us many people came with picnics, and there was plenty of places both indoor and out where you could sit down and enjoy your own lunch.
Overall a 5 star day out and fully recommended by me and my tribe...
About Superbreaks:
Superbreak is the market leader in the provision of UK and European short breaks. It has been established for over 25 years and from day one, we have specialised in providing short breaks within the UK. We aim to make our customers’ life easier by allowing them to book packages, be it for theatre breaks or just short city breaks across the UK.
About this review-
we were kindly sent a family day pass to try of Chester Zoo courtesy of superbreaks,we paid all travel expenses and I was not paid for this post.All thoughts on the zoo are my own honest opinion.
