Trentham Monkey Forest (May 2015) Review

Trentham Monkey Forest
Staffordshire

www.trentham-monkey-forest.com

Reviewed by Claire Murray

Yesterday I had the pleasure of reviewing Monkey Forest in Trentham! I entered the park between perfectly manicured lawns either side of the road before entering huge amounts of gravelled free parking spaces. The park is minutes away from the M6 in Stoke on Trent and well sign posted from miles away.

The lady at the kiosk was really friendly and welcomed us to the park. The adult price is £8 and £6 for children with various discounts for OAP’s, students and disabled visitors. We had a baby with us who was free as she is under 3.

We were given a leaflet and receipt and we walked through into the entrance area which was a lovely open expanse of grass, children’s play area, toilets, cafe and shop. If you were to bring your own food, there are ample tables and chairs to sit down at eat at, both inside and out. Everywhere was in beautiful condition with not a piece of litter in sight and all the tables were clean, there was always staff in sight if you were to need anything wearing luminous yellow fleeces.

We walked with our pram up the path to see some monkeys, it was nice and smooth for easy walking with regular benches if you wanted to sit down and enjoy the views. However you didn’t have to walk far to see the first monkey!

The park is filled with 140+ Barbary Macaques and they’re free to wander into the forest or to the side of the path or walk right past you and across them! There were all different sizes and ages including tiny two week old twins with their mum which were incredibly cute!! They were high up in trees, playing in the bushes, sat cleaning each other or sleeping and some are just inches away!

As you walk round, there was a central area where the park staff feed the monkeys hourly and do a talk with a microphone. The talk was just 5 minutes away so we stayed and watched the monkeys play until the presentation started. We were given information about where the Macaques lived in the wild and how endangered they were. The different ages and sexes were shown to us and the food was given with explanations of their feeding regimes and their interactions and daily activities. The presenter was clear and loud and interacted with the audience asking us questions and didn’t at all sound scripted regularly pointing out what she could see the monkeys doing and letting us know why.

Me and my partner really enjoyed the talk, we were kept engaged and it was interesting for all ages. I could have come right back and listened to the next one an hour later! The speaker invited any questions and appeared knowledgeable and approachable and other staff said hello and smiled all through the park.

We carried on walking around and the path continued between the trees going uphill and back down with meandering streams and of course, lots more monkeys!! They were very relaxed and obviously well cared for. The forest was natural looking was not cluttered with man-made structures, they looked so happy which is very important to me when seeing animals in captivity.

We eventually returned to the entrance area and went to the cafe for some food. There were choices of hot or cold drinks, homemade cakes (I chose a homemade brownie, the best I have ever tasted!) then paninis, sandwiches and jacket potatoes etc… The staff continued to be lovely recommending what they thought was tasty! Our lunch with drinks and cakes totalled £15 which was worth it for homemade fresh and tasty food. The eating areas were clean and tidy with lots of highchairs and staff around.

The toilets were plentiful and clean with lots of toilet roll and soap with a clean baby change area.

We spent a good few hours in Monkey Forest and had such a lovely time. It was beautiful to see such amazing creatures being looked after so well and looking so happy in a really natural environment with the freedom to be on their own away from humans if they chose to.

For very little cost, you can have a fantastic day out, learn lots about the Barbary Macaques and if that isn’t enough, there is Trentham Garden Centre with plenty of shops is just minutes away. I will definitely be going again!

Rating: 5/5 

Tickets cost from £6 to £8 with under 3′s free.

For more information visit www.trentham-monkey-forest.com.

Monkey Forest, Trentham Estate, Stone Road, Tittensor, Trentham, Staffordshire, ST4 8AY