UK&I 11 Sep12 5/9/08 12:54 Page 70
knowledge uk wildlife breaks
ttglive.com
Warner Experience, Somerset
craft, heritage and sports-related breaks. But
Cricket St Thomas is unique in having its
Monkey around
own wildlife park, which is also open to the
public. The wildlife park is involved in con-
servation work both here and overseas, and
many of its inhabitants are unwanted pets or
animals unfit to survive in the wild.
on a UK break
The hotel itself is pretty famous too. The
old part of the building was the manor in the
BBC sitcom To The Manor Born, and guests
can have lunch beside the stone staircase.
Philippa Jacks makes friends with an emperor I have to admit I found the food at the
tamarin at Cricket St Thomas Wildlife Park in Somerset
hotel a little disappointing. The a la carte
menu for dinner was very limited, and the
canteen-style buffet served frozen vegetables.
I
lost my heart at in a huff and took a And a Warner Break is not exactly cheap:
Cricket St Thomas well-aimed wee in my my Wildlife Experience break costs £284 per
Wildife Park to an direction. He had clearly person for three nights’ half-board.
eight-inch-tall only been interested in But while the food might not be haute
emperor tamarin. With one thing. cuisine, there are a tremendous number of
tufty ears, and a wispy, Second place for cute- activities and facilities included. We swam,
white, curling mous- ness went to Deborah the played tennis and tried bowls all for free,
tache (pictured), he was tapir, one of the oddest- and the Walk on the Wildside alone would
definitely the cutest looking creatures at the cost £80 per couple if purchased separately.
animal I met all day. And I don’t even find park, with a trunk-like nose, and a body like And then there’s all the included evening
a moustache that attractive normally. a cross between a horse and pig. entertainment. Again, not really my scene,
I was enjoying a Walk on the Wild Side, Other highlights of my three-hour tour but the guests, mainly 60 or 70-plus, lapped
a three-hour behind-the-scenes tour that were meeting a variety of snakes and iguanas up the cabaret singing and flocked on to the
allows you to get up close with, and even in the reptile house, feeding horsemeat to dancefloor when given half a chance.
feed, the animals. That’s how I found myself the beautiful cheetah, and chopping up fruit When the compere asked how many people
holding a tub of wriggling mealy worms for a hungry gang of lemurs before being sat had stayed at the hotel before, two-thirds
against the mesh of the tamarins’ enclosure on by five of them at once in Lemur Wood. of the audience raised their arms. Cricket St
for my new friend to grab with his tiny The Wildlife Experience is one of 300 Thomas keeps hundreds of guests happy
hands and shove into his bearded mouth. Experience Breaks, introduced in 2007, every week. And as long as they steer clear of
I thought he’d taken a real shine to me available at Warner properties around the that cheeky tamarin, they’ll stay that way.
but when the mealy worms ran out, he got country. Other options include culinary, ■ warnerleisurehotels.co.uk
OTHER OPTIONS FOR
UK NATURE BREAKS
Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire, Scotland, offers a range
of falconry experiences, from half-day hawking days to a
two-day Falconry Break, which costs from £530 per room
per night, half-board, including a falconry lesson.
■ gleneagles.com
Superbreak sells packages with admission to Paradise
Wildlife Park in Hertfordshire and one night’s stay at the
nearby Cheshunt Marriott from £140 for two adults and
two children, including adults’ breakfast. Visitors to the
park can pay extra for experiences such as Feed the Big
Cats, Face Your Phobia and Shadow a Keeper.
■ superbreak.com/travelagent
The English Manner Garden Tour Package at Von Essen’s
Ston Easton Park in Somerset offers guests exclusive
garden tours of nearby Yarlington, Snape
Cottage and Hilltop estates, plus a visit
to a lavender distillery. A Superior Room
costs from £175 per person, per
night, Garden tour extra.
■vonessenhotels.com
70 12.09.2008
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96