Chester Zoo

Even before Baby arrived we decided we wanted to buy an annual membership for Chester Zoo. It's expensive, at £20 for an adult on the gate in the colder months, and £28 in the Summer, but it is a full day out, with so much to see that it can't all always be seen in one day. A joint adult membership is £145 for the year, so if we visited four times over the year we would have saved money.

Our first trip was to celebrate Grandpa's birthday. Baby's Christmas present to Grandma and Grandpa was an annual membership, so our first port of call was the membership office. Cards obtained, we were ready to explore.

Our first stop was the elephant house. It seems that you don't actually need to have purchased a ticket to get into the elephant house, as the entrance to it is before the ticket gates, round behind the shop. We were in luck, as the elephants were obviously feeling friendly, and were close to the edge of their enclosure. Baby was very interested in these strange animals. We even spotted the new baby of the herd, Nandita, born around the same time as Baby. She was very playful, climbing onto a rock and managing to balance for longer than seemed physically possible.

Next up was the monkey house. The first window was very busy so we decided to move further round to get Baby closer to a window. Unfortunately, the monkeys in the remaining enclosures weren't so keen to come close to the window, so Baby didn't really get to see much of the monkeys.

We took in a few more enclosures before Baby decided she'd had enough and wanted a change and a feed. We used the facilities in the Bembe Kitchen, which was closed for refurbishment during our visit, so there was no hot food available, though the building was open, which was useful. The baby changing was snug but reasonably clean and the building was warm, which was useful for feeding.

While Baby was awake and in a good mood, we decided to take her on the monorail. She hasn't seen much public transport to date, and we thought she might find it a novel experience. Typically, she took it all in her stride and seemed completely unfazed. It was £2 per person, and went from opposite the elephant enclosure to the restaurant on the other side of the zoo. It was very quiet, we had a carriage to ourselves which was useful as we had the pram, which we were able to wheel straight on and off with no issues. We travelled over the lion enclosure and got a really good view of them, they even looked straight at us at one point. We also saw a cheetah strolling around in its enclosure. Baby was able to get a really good view of them and seemed to enjoy looking out of the window as we went over the enclosures.

We lunched at June's Kitchen. It had the biggest range of food and plenty of seating, though with Bembe Kitchen being closed it was quite busy. We were still able to find a table with no wait however. Lots of prams meant that the aisles between tables were often blocked, but most people were very good natured about having to squeeze round others to get in/out.

With the membership we got a discount on food, but it's still not particularly cheap. Of course there is the option to take your own picnic but to sit outside would have been rather chilly and not particularly enjoyable. There was pizza, pasta, burgers, fish and chips, and a deli with healthier options. The ice cream parlour didn't seem to be open.

Baby fell asleep as we were eating, so missed the rest of the zoo. We saw sun bears, penguins, eagles. We also went into Realm of the Red Ape, hoping to see some orangutans. Unfortunately signs in all of the enclosures there said they were now in Islands, which wasn't open during our visit.

We also made brief pit stops to see the chimpanzees, giraffes and the tropical realm before heading back to the entrance. The beauty of the membership is that it doesn't matter that Baby fell asleep, because we can go back and see some other animals another time.

It was a cold day this visit, and as mentioned above, Islands wasn't open. The zoo was very quiet compared to the crowds that visit in Summer, which meant it was peaceful and easy to get around. Most of the animals were inside though, rather than outside, so on a few occasions this meant they were out of sight. Regardless, we all enjoyed our day out thoroughly.


Key facts:

Month of visit:
January

Weather for visit:
Very cold, but thankfully dry.

Is it pushchair friendly?
Yes, everywhere is accessible with wide paths and ramps.

How are the baby changing facilities?
Plenty of baby changing dotted around the zoo. The ones we used were reasonably clean, if a little cold occasionally.

What about somewhere to feed?
Baby changing facilities are only small, with nowhere to sit. I fed in the cafes with no problems.

Is it worth a visit?
Absolutely. So many animals to see, too little time. An expensive day out for a family, but worth it for an occasional treat.

Baby's highlight?
The elephants.



Chester Zoo
Upton-by-Chester
Chester,
CH2 1LH

http://www.chesterzoo.org

World Museum, Liverpool

Grandma wanted to see the poppy installation at St George's Hall in Liverpool, so a very cold January day saw us wrapped up warm in the city centre. Seeing the poppies only took about five minutes however, and as I mentioned, it was very cold, so Grandma suggested we popped round the corner to the World Museum to warm up.

First stop was the cafe on the ground floor. Plenty of tables and completely empty when we arrived. We opted for hot drinks and cake, though there didn't seem to be too much in the way of savoury food, bar a handful of sandwiches in a chiller. There is another cafe on the fifth floor which we didn't venture into.

On the first floor there is an aquarium. Grandma thought that Baby might enjoy looking at the fish and she was right. It was the first time Baby had seen fish and she was entranced, particularly by the brightly coloured ones. She was a bit confused too, and I don't think she could understand why she couldn't touch them through the thick pane of glass.

The aquarium wasn't very busy which meant that we were able to wander round at our leisure. Whilst not a huge aquarium, there was plenty to look at, and each window was large enough for several people to look in at any one time. In addition to the brightly coloured fish, Baby also enjoyed the sting rays, as they swam up the glass pane in front of her.

After we'd explored the aquarium, we decided to visit the dinosaur exhibit. There was a trail to follow, so naturally Mummy and Grandma did that on Baby's behalf. Most of the cards for the trail were easy to find, though one or two had us stumped for a while. Again, it wasn't a particularly large space, so it didn't take us long to look around. I quite liked this though, as I can imagine that visiting multiple sections might keep mobile children entertained for a longer overall period.


Key facts:

Month of visit:

January

Weather for visit:
Very very cold.

Is it pushchair friendly?
Yes, there are two large lifts in the atrium, and the majority of the exhibits can be accessed without stairs. There was a mezzanine level in the dinosaur exhibit which seemed to be only accessible via stairs, but we didn't actually look too hard for an alternative, nor did we ask any staff members.

What about somewhere to feed?
There were benches on the levels we accessed, and a chair in the large baby changing room. There was also a cafe on the ground floor.

Is it worth a visit?
It's free, and Baby loved seeing the fish in the aquarium, so we'll definitely be back.

Baby's highlight?
The aquarium. Large windows and colourful fish had her fascinated.



World Museum
William Brown Street,
Liverpool,
L3 8EN

http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/wml/

Martin Mere

When we were younger, we used to visit Martin Mere all the time. Great-Grandpa was a keen bird watcher, and the fresh air and chance to get close to some birds, whilst not being too far away, were a winning combination.

After Baby arrived, Grandma suggested that we visit, to see what, if anything, had changed. We even decided to take out annual memberships, on the basis that we would probably visit more than four times. Since then we've already visited enough times to make the membership worthwhile.

This particular visit (Baby slept through the whole of the first visit) was to coincide with the Lego animal trail which was in place over the Winter months. Giant animals including flamingos, otters, kingfishers and other birds were made out of hundreds of lego bricks and positioned around the enclosures.

We were given a map at reception, and set off. All of the statues were very easy to spot, as they were very tall. Some were chunkier than others, but they were all equally as impressive. Their height meant that Baby was able to spot them from her pram, though they were all strategically positioned to avoid anyone touching and damaging them.

The site itself isn't that large, and a walk round can be done in under an hour, which was just as well on this occasion as it started to pour with rain about three quarters of the way round. The 'enclosures' are on one side of the site, to the left as you leave the shop/visitor centre, with the mere and hides to the right.

The enclosures contain a large variety of ducks, moorhens, flamingos and even otters. There are gates in between the areas which are split generally into continents. The paths are wide and generally tarmaced or concrete, but the edges of some of the water bodies are unfenced, so those with curious children would need to pay special attention whilst walking around.

There is also a Wild Walk, which Mummy and Baby have as yet been unable to do, because Mummy nevers remembers her wellies/forgets that Baby needs to be in the carrier, not the pram, to access this part. During the ostensibly warmer months (April to October), there are canoes for hire and boat tours available. Again, Mummy and Baby are yet to experience this because babes in arms aren't permitted on either, for safety reasons.

Part of Martin Mere's appeal for serious bird watchers is that it attracts large numbers of migratory swans, and it even hosts swan feeding at specific times in certain months. Any events put on for children tend to focus on the enclosure side of the site, meaning that the hides are kept still and quiet.

Grandma could sit in the hides all day watching different birds coming and going. Surprisingly, Baby also enjoyed sitting on the window ledge in one of the hides, watching the swans extending and flapping their wings, far more than I thought she would. One of the newer hides is heated, in an attempt to encourage children and families to make use of it. Personally I wouldn't take Baby into a hide which I knew had other bird watchers in as I suspect she might make a bit too much noise and disturb the birds/watchers, but if children were able to make minimal noise they might enjoy using the binoculars and bird books provided to spot different species. A good location for ticking off some items in an ispy book!


Key facts:

Month of visit:
January

Weather for visit:
Intermittent rain and dry spells.

Is it pushchair friendly?
Yes, all the paths are wide and accessible.

How are the baby changing facilities?
There are a couple of sets of toilets, we used the ones in the cafe. Baby changing was in the disabled toilets, and were clean and warm.

What about somewhere to feed?
Nowhere to feed in the disabled toilets, but I fed in the cafe with no issues.

Is it worth a visit?
Yes, fresh air and plenty of visual stimulation for Baby.

Baby's highlight?
The giant Lego kingfisher.



WWT Martin Mere
Fish Lane,
Burscough,
Lancs,
L40 0TA

http://www.wwt.org.uk/wetland-centres/martin-mere/