Twycross Zoo Review

Reviewed by Gemma Ingham

My little family and I were invited to spend the day at Twycross Zoo and naturally we were thrilled! I have limited mobility and find that planning family trips out can be a bit of a minefield in order to meet my needs but still entertain my energetic 5-year-old daughter. Often places that would be brilliant for her are difficult for me to get around, and the way a company deals with accessibility can make or break a family day out. I was interested to see what Twycross had to offer to keep us all happy.

The zoo is quite conveniently located near major road networks and took us about 90 minutes to get to from South Yorkshire. We picked up signposts for the zoo very easily and it was a breeze to find. Once there we found the car park attended by a staff member who pointed us in the right direction for Blue Badge parking – of which there was plenty situated right in front of the main entrance.

I had reserved a mobility scooter to hire at a charge of £12 (these need to be booked in advance), picked this up from Guest Services and after a quick run through of how it works we were ready to go.

The first stop after a car journey that ‘took forever’ (according to my drama queen 5-year-old), was the kids play area in the Explorer Zone before moving onto the butterfly house, and the goat walkthrough (or rather my husband and daughter had to walk in and back out again as a particularly stubborn goat did not want them to walk through!)

We moved onto Gibbon Forest where we saw a beautiful White Cheeked Gibbon baby. Helpfully, there are ‘Zoo Baby’ stickers on all enclosures that house a baby so whenever we saw one of these we knew to keep our eyes peeled. It was in this crowded area that I could test out maneuverability of the mobility scooter. Thankfully the scooter did have a tight turning circle that came in use when trying to turn from one enclosure to another. Importantly, the scooter also isn’t too bulky so I could pull it up right alongside enclosure windows and didn’t miss out on anything.

We decided to press on through Kangaroos and Apes to Twycross Fish Bar. We had decided in advance to eat at the zoo so we were prepared for the £28 it cost for 2 meals of fish & chips, 1 kids meal and 3 drinks. However, the fish and chips were beautiful and were way better than I had imagined they would be. The fish bar, although crowded, was very well attended by staff that were constantly clearing tables for people to sit at.

It was after lunch that I encountered an issue with terrain as a ‘disabled’ (I hate using that word) guest. Most of the pathways in Twycross are wide, flat and stable dirt/sand/gravel paths, but upon going through the Walking with Lemurs enclosure I took a wrong turn and ended up going the wrong way around. The incline I was driving up, I should have really tackled from the other direction, and a quarter of the way from the top the scooter ran out of momentum and decided it didn’t want to move anymore. I had my husband with me so he pushed it up the last little bit and all was well, but had I been on my own I would’ve easily been able to attract the attention of the staff member present to give me a hand. Lesson learned – don’t try to drive the scooter up inclines that look a bit too steep.

But I obviously don’t learn from my mistakes. By the flamingos I took a path down to the waterside and again the scooter ran out of momentum when trying to rejoin the main path up an incline and I found myself in a kind of ‘bowl’ – trying to but failing to get up either side. As before my husband pushed, but had he not been there I would’ve felt quite vulnerable due to the location being tucked away and not on the main route. In this case I do feel that the terrain in this area could do with leveling out, or the incline being made gentler.

As for the animals in general, all the habitats I saw seemed well kept and there was a good variety of animals to look at. Monkeys and Apes featured heavily but this is due to Twycross Zoo being a specialist primate zoo, and the only place in the UK where you can see all types of great ape. I found the information boards on each of the enclosures informative, and I particularly liked the ‘Levels of danger’ information so I could see exactly how endangered each species was.

If I had to pick my favourite part I would say surprisingly, it was Lorikeet Landing. I don’t like birds in particular and find them quite boring, I’ll happily skip past bird enclosures to get to the more exciting animals but I’m so glad I didn’t skip Lorikeet Landing. For £1 you can take a cup of nectar into the huge walk through aviary and have Lorikeet’s perch on you and drink from the cup. I was amazed (although not massively happy at having one unexpectedly land on my head!), and my daughter loved it. Thankfully, we managed to avoid any bird poo incidents although the keeper did tell me his record was being pooed on 9 times in one day!

Despite it being a wet, cold and windy day my daughter also enjoyed the Wet n Wild water park. About half of the water was turned off but she still enjoyed running around in the water that was spraying everywhere. On a red hot summer’s day the water park would no doubt be heaving and a very welcome attraction!

Every part of the zoo we came across was in good repair and there was constant staff presence whether it be a keeper or maintenance worker. I feel confident that should I have had any issues I would have been able to find a staff member in no time at all. Toilets, seating and refreshment stands were plentiful.

The only negative point for me is the very large and impossible to avoid soft play area in the main entrance before the ticket booths. The soft play is an extra admission because it is available to non-zoo visitors and it does look large and clean. But as any parent will know, soft plays are a magnet to kids, and especially kids that are bored after a long car journey. They see it and want to go right in. It created a bit of difficulty before our trip had even properly begun.

Other than the points mentioned with regards to accessibility I didn’t particularly encounter any other major difficulties. There wasn’t any part of the zoo I couldn’t go into with the scooter, and the staff were very helpful. The keepers in Lorikeet Landing in particular went out of their way to hold the doors open for me, and although it’s a small gesture from them it goes a big way to making my life easier. I did think the doors to the most of the animal houses were only just wide enough for the scooter, and in particular the giraffe enclosure door I seemed to end up banging into but I did still manage to get through.

After our day out I fed back a few of my opinions to Twycross as they were really keen to learn from my experiences as a visitor with limited mobility. I was able to discuss the couple of issues with terrain and I feel they were very receptive to suggestions for improvement and keen to improve on any barriers to accessibility.

I can honestly say I would highly recommend Twycross Zoo, not only as a family day out but also for anyone who might struggle with their mobility or lacks confidence in taking a mobility scooter or wheelchair on days out. On our day I did have my husband to help, but after seeing how keen Twycross are to be accessible to everyone I would feel confident taking my daughter there on my own as I know I would have help should I need it.

Rating: 5/5

Tickets cost: Adult £16.80 (£18.48 with Gift Aid) / Child £12.48 (£13.73 with Gift Aid)

For more information or to book tickets online visit twycrosszoo.org.

Twycross Zoo, Burton Road, Atherstone, Warwickshire, CV9 3PX | 0844 474 1777