Travel: A family day at the zoo – Paradise Wildlife Park, Hertfordshire

I’ve finally had a chance to make a little vlog of our day at Paradise Wildlife Park just before the kids went back to school last month. The zoo is in Broxbourne, about an hour’s drive from us, or half an hour out from London, and in all honesty I don’t know how we’ve not discovered it before.

The fact we lucked-out and got a gloriously sunny day probably helped, but the place just has a really lovely, spacious and unhurried feel thanks to its location in the middle of the Hertfordshire countryside.

Considering we went in the school holidays, I imagine it’s even quieter during term time, and it’s open every day of the year apart from Christmas Day.

So, what were our favourite bits?

Adventure Land, which is the huge play area you drive past on your way in, was always going to be a winner with my five-year-old in particular, and there was an undercover play area a bit further in with some huge lane slides and a helter skelter, too.

The woodland railway that takes you past everything from reindeer to dinosaurs (kind of) was most popular with the toddler (and I liked it because it was only a pound each), and the jungle theatre where we got up-close with the animals was another big hit with them both.

The Paradise Lagoon was probably my personal favourite – it’s a small-ish pool that’s shallow enough for toddlers but big enough for older kids, too. Things got a bit more boisterous as the day went on, but I’d love to come back here on a sunny day with my littlest, perhaps next spring, when the big kids are in school and we can have a bit of a paddle or just laze by the pool with an ice-cream.

There are plenty of places to buy food – including Safari Sam’s Diner, which was really busy when we went – but what I really liked about it was the fact there were also lots of picnic benches and open spaces where you could sit and have your own food.

We spent a whole day at the park and ended up doing a loop of the main zoo area twice just to see all the animals again, and I’d really recommend it for a family day out. We saw turtles, meercats, big cats like snow leopards, lions and cheetahs, and we bought a bag of animal feed which the kids loved giving to the farmyard animals.

Anyway, I’ll let the video do the talking – take a look and let me know if you’ve been to Paradise Wildlife Park yourself. Adult tickets are £19.80, and children aged 2-15 are £16.50, but you get a 10% discount if you book online.

Big thanks to Paradise Wildlife Park for inviting us along for free – we loved it.