Day's Out - Chester Zoo Review

Way back at Easter time when we visited Liverpool/ Chester with my family on Easter Sunday because Jess was recovering from the chicken pox we had to change her plans instead of visiting the family member were meant to be seeing we took a trip out to Chester Zoo.

As you may know, Jess was born in Chester so my brother kept joking she was actually going back home. 4 of us made the trip to the zoo me, Joe, my brother, and Jess. I booked the tickets in advance and I think it cost around £70 for the three adults and due to Jess been under 3, she was free.  I would recommend booking online as you then do not have to queue when you get there.You also actually get a 10% discount should you book online as well.

Chester is one of the largest zoo's in the UK it is set in 125 acres which means that there is a lot of walking so you may want to take a pram should you have little legs or hire ones which we saw. We took our own pram otherwise, I think we would have had to hire one and they are only £7 for the day which I did not think is too expensive it will save your ears having to listen to all the moaning from a child whose legs ache. If you are a little bit older you can get on the monorail which gives you a view from above of the animals which means your legs don't have to ache to see all of the animals this was £4 all day for an adult this is maybe something which we would do should we visit again.

There are over 500 species of wildlife and over 15,000 animals which mean there is plenty to see even with Jess we arrived at the zoo around 10.30 am and actually left the park as it closed at 6pm. This to me shows there is plenty to see and we did not feel like we had not seen everything which we wanted and there was nothing we had missed visiting we even managed to visit some of our favourite animals twice which was nice as Jess loved the rhinos and Chester have plenty of them.  

Another thing which we would recommend doing is making sure that you get a map because then you will not miss any of the animals which you may want to visit and do not have to start walking around in circles. Something we noticed this visit was that they actually have a free app which you can download which tells you when the keepers are doing a talk about the animals which was amazing because we actually went on a Sunday when it was the Jaguars feeding and apparently is it usually hard to see them and we managed to see them which was pleasant. I found the talks very interesting and they are something which I would recommend checking out.  The talks are actually free so it does not stop you actually might as well because the expert do know why they are talking about and they are very useful. 

Due to the fact that we were there over lunch and only took snacks in for Jess meaning that she would not be as grouchy. We had to eat which is something which we try not to do at places as it can be super expensive because of the fact that they have the monopoly over you which is never good for the bank balance. My brother has a huge bowl of pasta which was freshly cooked. There was a whole range of food which you could have from pizza, pasta, fish and chips and also just sandwiches yes they were slightly expensive however the food was of high quality. There is plenty for the children to eat as well as children's meals which maybe be better portion sizes as adults are very large and filling. 

I feel like we would all have had a different animal and moment at the zoo which was our favourite but once thing which I did like was that we could let Jess walk around with her reins on allowing her to see things and get close to the animals rather than only been able to see everything from pram height. 

I would recommend visiting Chester zoo even if you have been before like me the animals change and there is always plenty to see l. I for one will be back since our visit they have had some baby rhinos and I know Jess would like to see them so maybe next year we will go back for a visit. We know Jess had such a good time because she actually cried when she had to leave I think this is a sign we might have to visit again

Have you visited Chester Zoo if so what did you think? 

Charlotte x