Drusillas Park - East Sussex
Drusillas Park, Alfriston, East Sussex, BN26 5QS
'No ordinary zoo' is what they claim and I'd say its a fair statement! We had a really fun day out here last week with friends. There is certainly plenty to see and do. The zoo itself has a wide variety of animals and not necessarily the typical ones you would expect to see. There are no lions, tigers and giraffes but there are animals such as capybara, coati, porcupine, beavers, bats, sloth and a giant anteater, which was Oliver's favourite of the day. He was fascinated by it and to be honest so was I as I'd never seen one before either! There are lots of different species of monkeys and birds including flamingos and owls. There is not an aquarium but there are some reptiles and also a small farm area aswell. The layout of the zoo is really well signposted with arrows to follow so you can walk around it all like a trail and not miss anything.
As it is winter not all of the rides were open, and the ones that were ran at certain times of the day. This actually wasn't a bad thing as we could plan to do them all at a certain time and then move on. It wasn't busy at all and we were even able to stay on some of them for multiples rides, without queues. The train was the only thing that was a little disappointing, as it didn't really take you past anything to look at, but the kids still enjoyed it and it was no additional cost. All the rides were included in the entry ticket.
The playgrounds are pretty awesome and are labelled as age appropriate. However we did let our little people go on some of the stuff for 8+ because it was so quiet and actually they could manage some of it! Lots of variety of apparatus, slides etc. The large trampoline sunk into the ground provided a good half hours entertainment and the banana boat swings were also a hit. I'd say leave plenty of time to explore the playgrounds, but also I was glad that we did the zoo first, because it may have been harder to lure them away from the playgrounds. I also think they'd be too tired to take in the animals after playing and running around for a few hours!
Lunch wise because it was cold, we decided against a picnic and bought food in the cafe. I think it was a pretty fair price, there were hot and cold options with a salad bar and kids lunchbox offers. Pizza & jelly for Oliver, pizza and salad for me plus a drink came to about £10.
The gift shop was closed! Hooray! For once we didn't get dragged around a gift shop on the way out and didn't have to buy a souvenir! Don't get me wrong I do often like a nose around a gift shop, but by the time you are heading home, your child has reached maximum physical and mental capacity and it usually ends up in a Mexican stand off of tantrums...I digress.
Entry is similar price to a theme park I guess, but I can understand why because of whats on offer. However because it was winter and midweek we took advantage of a deal where the second person gets entry for £5. Making it £25.50 for me and Oliver, which was a bargain. If you sign up to their emails they often send deals and offers. We got given a guide book with map for free, which is actually a decent little book, Oliver has been looking at it at home since, to help him talk about what we saw. That was a nice touch not having to pay extra for a book.
They are in the process of building a dinosaur section to the park so I'm pretty sure we will be heading back there once that opens after Easter. We did manage to find one dinosaur which made Oliver very happy indeed...
This is a lovely day out as a treat! It took just over an hour from Coulsdon, motorway most of the way. Certainly doable for a full day out from here and I'd recommend it!
https://www.drusillas.co.uk/
'No ordinary zoo' is what they claim and I'd say its a fair statement! We had a really fun day out here last week with friends. There is certainly plenty to see and do. The zoo itself has a wide variety of animals and not necessarily the typical ones you would expect to see. There are no lions, tigers and giraffes but there are animals such as capybara, coati, porcupine, beavers, bats, sloth and a giant anteater, which was Oliver's favourite of the day. He was fascinated by it and to be honest so was I as I'd never seen one before either! There are lots of different species of monkeys and birds including flamingos and owls. There is not an aquarium but there are some reptiles and also a small farm area aswell. The layout of the zoo is really well signposted with arrows to follow so you can walk around it all like a trail and not miss anything.
As it is winter not all of the rides were open, and the ones that were ran at certain times of the day. This actually wasn't a bad thing as we could plan to do them all at a certain time and then move on. It wasn't busy at all and we were even able to stay on some of them for multiples rides, without queues. The train was the only thing that was a little disappointing, as it didn't really take you past anything to look at, but the kids still enjoyed it and it was no additional cost. All the rides were included in the entry ticket.
The playgrounds are pretty awesome and are labelled as age appropriate. However we did let our little people go on some of the stuff for 8+ because it was so quiet and actually they could manage some of it! Lots of variety of apparatus, slides etc. The large trampoline sunk into the ground provided a good half hours entertainment and the banana boat swings were also a hit. I'd say leave plenty of time to explore the playgrounds, but also I was glad that we did the zoo first, because it may have been harder to lure them away from the playgrounds. I also think they'd be too tired to take in the animals after playing and running around for a few hours!
Lunch wise because it was cold, we decided against a picnic and bought food in the cafe. I think it was a pretty fair price, there were hot and cold options with a salad bar and kids lunchbox offers. Pizza & jelly for Oliver, pizza and salad for me plus a drink came to about £10.
The gift shop was closed! Hooray! For once we didn't get dragged around a gift shop on the way out and didn't have to buy a souvenir! Don't get me wrong I do often like a nose around a gift shop, but by the time you are heading home, your child has reached maximum physical and mental capacity and it usually ends up in a Mexican stand off of tantrums...I digress.
Entry is similar price to a theme park I guess, but I can understand why because of whats on offer. However because it was winter and midweek we took advantage of a deal where the second person gets entry for £5. Making it £25.50 for me and Oliver, which was a bargain. If you sign up to their emails they often send deals and offers. We got given a guide book with map for free, which is actually a decent little book, Oliver has been looking at it at home since, to help him talk about what we saw. That was a nice touch not having to pay extra for a book.
They are in the process of building a dinosaur section to the park so I'm pretty sure we will be heading back there once that opens after Easter. We did manage to find one dinosaur which made Oliver very happy indeed...
This is a lovely day out as a treat! It took just over an hour from Coulsdon, motorway most of the way. Certainly doable for a full day out from here and I'd recommend it!
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