Longleat: Revenge of The Monkeys

Half term holidays over again, we loved Dorset so much last year we booked the same holiday house again to visit.  However this year the weather was against us again, but minus the snow and power cuts it worked out better than our other holiday this year.

Thankfully the holiday house had a swimming pool to drag (literally in my case) the children into when the weather was really bad.  

Also having been here before, we knew some places which were weather friendly. 

I love Longleat, you can use Tesco vouchers to get free passport tickets, and it has a great mixture of covered things to see and do for all ages. Although we did have some ticket issues they were quickly resolved, see Claire's post here for another take on this attraction.

This is my post from 2010 Day 1 and Day 2, quite a bit had changed since then. Much to Maisie disgust the teacups were no longer there, but everything else was and it's all been given a facelift to theme everything together in a Safari look. Previously the attractions all looked completely separate, I like that it all looks more cohesive now and can't wait to go back in a year or so when it's all completed.

I won't write everything again so feel free to look up my old posts. 

I loved seeing these guys really close up this time, you could almost here her purring over that bone.

Anne the Elephant came to give us a lovely welcome to, she doesn't always come outside as she's a little shy so this was a good treat. You can read her story here.

 So the last time we went the Monkey Enclosure was closed, but not this time. I will point out we have had our lovely car less than a month and although not brand new is still fairly shiny, the gates hanging with car parts were enough to put us off driving through. 

However Stu's Sister wanted to go with her kids as it was closed last time they came, and then Dave my Father-In-Law started to say how he wanted to see the kids looking excited at the monkeys close up. 

We were forced into it, we drove through...

This monkey owes me £8 which is the cost of a new antenna for my car, Maisie completely freaked out hearing the monkeys climbing on our roof; whereas Lucas was laughing like a loon. 

Ahh, however we were distracted from our car eating monkey by seeing, so close this lovely Mummy and her baby sitting on Claire's car in front.

As it then educated it's young in car chomping, beware the cute monkeys if you like your car. 

At this point it started to rain and there was no way we were putting the wipers on; we saw what they happened to other cars. 

We survived to go round the rest of the park though and had a great day.

What you been up to in the half term? 

Have you survived the monkeys?

Amanda.x.

Groundhog Day!

Well after a day chilling out on the Bouncilene as it was renamed by Josh & Maisie, we headed back yo Longleat for day 2 adventuring there.

We did some spinning on the cups, just watching them go round & round made me feel a little sick.

We also went on the little steam train that goes past over parts of the park.

And got lost in the Maze, well we did let Maisie choose the way to go.

We visited the small animal area, full of Bunnies,Parrots,small furries,and creepies to hold.

 Maisie spotted this lovely Groundhog watching everyone, he was so still that she thought he was stuffed.

But as soon as she turned round he looked up at her, when I told her he'd moved and she turned back round...

He went right back to where he was before

 I nearly fell over laughing and Maisie thought I was trying to trick her.

We ended our Longleat trip in the Adventure playground area, you could have spent a whole day just in this part, & the adults enjoyed it as much as the children, although adults aren't allowed down the slides,

Naughty Grandad.

The whole Longleat experience was very enjoyable, and I'd happily go back. Using the Clubcard points made it cheaper & as the passport tickets covered one entry for everything and you can go back again & again.

I think we will.

Amanda.x.

Lions and Tigers and Groundhogs, Oh my.

By far the part of the holiday I(everyone else as well) was looking forward to was visiting Longleat although I was disappointed to find that Ben Fogle in not kept there as a permanent attraction.
We booked our tickets ahead using our Tesco Clubcard vouchers which was really worth it, & you get a passport ticket allowing you to visit most of the attractions once while you're there. Our plan was to do everything in one day, but on the the first day there after the safari we realised there was still a whole day of stuff to do.

When we first got there we headed for the safari tour, you're given a CD to listen to as you go round, you go through the Giraffe,Zebra and Gazelle enclosure first, then an aviary section, then the Tigers, Lions and Wolves.
The Lions were my favourite, they were all sunbathing and all the animals looked cared for and seemed to enjoy their environments. There was safety notices everywhere which the staff should maybe take a better look at, you may notice the chap above fast asleep with his window open. We were a little worried as our clutch made an awful smell going round as you keep starting & stopping when you see an animal.

After the safari and a picnic stop we went off to go on the boat tour, we watched the Merecats while waiting.  This is Lucas having a little cuddle with Grandma Sue, while a Merecat stands watch in the background.

The boat tour was really good, we rode on the Lady Lenka boat. Maisie was a little disappointed by the sleepy Hippos which just looked like big rocks, but then the guide started to feed the Sealions & 2 jumped out right next to us.

We also past Gorilla Island, the half-acre home of Nico the Lowland Gorilla.
Nico likes nothing more than to watch the passengers on the boats as they journey past his island. He also enjoys a variety of creature comforts including his own centrally-heated miniature stately home with satellite television. 

Although he looks grumpy that is actually a happy Gorilla.

We had a stomp through the lovely gardens.

Longleat House looked beautiful but with 4 children we didn't risk going round, especially with Capt.Chaos that is Lucas, who spend most his time climbing stuff he shouldn't.

All the children really enjoyed the Postman Pat village which was great except when you leave you have to go via a giftshop, an evil thing for all parents.

We ended the day with an ice-cream & then headed back to the cottage for a swim.

And after all that I think I was more tired than the children.

Amanda.x.