Ventura Wildlife Park

We live in Hertfordshire, UK at the moment. Not too far from us is the Van Hage flagship store in Great Amwell. We moved here around 10 months ago and heard about this place fairly early on as they had a very nice and free animal garden. The children loved visiting here and they had some interesting animals to see. Over the winter it has been closed for refurbishment, their enclosures needed a fair amount of work to repair and improve them as they have been well used and in a few cases have seemed a little crowded. 

We have missed visiting the Animal Garden as it is quite a nice little trip to get Pickle and Penguin outside and they love seeing the animals. It is also a lovely free activity as nowadays finances are always on the tight side. Anyway, they haven't given a date for when it will reopen so we decided to visit the Ventura Wildlife park which is on the Van Hage site to see what it was like. We had a lovely family afternoon out.

It was a lovely little trip. It is not very big, a modest little zoo with an enthusiastic staff. Tickets are not expensive and they have a few different animals to see with plans for expansion. The enclosures are clean and well kept and as it is a new zoo it all looks rather smart. I would recommend a visit for young ones if you have some time to spare but don't want a full day out or don't have the budget for a larger zoo. 

We were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of a baby wallaby sticking its little head out of its' mothers pouch. 

Not the best photo I am afraid. It is always rather tricky taking photos in zoos! We met a few animals at one of the keeper talks and saw some animals I haven't seen before. It was small enough even for Penguin to walk all the way around and she enjoyed the bird enclosures very much. 

We decided to upgrade my ticket and Pickles ticket to an annual pass so we can pop in as often as we like. Perfect for an afternoon out and as Penguin is still free I can take her whilst Pickle is at preschool!

Whilst we were getting our annual pass I had a little chat with the owner of the zoo and it was lovely to hear about how enthusiastic he is about the conservation work they are doing. I am looking forward to seeing them expand and enjoying many visits over the next year!

Me xx