A day to escape the wedding...

Hello all, Well I'm back and as you all know (or may have guessed) I'm not a royalist at all in any way shape or form, I think it may have something to do with the Welsh blood in me (or the fact that my dad would have murdered both me and my brother if we ever dared to have any interest!!)

So, yesterday, when most of the country was watching the wedding we escaped for the day. As we discovered, listening to the radio in the car was also a non starter (why is it that all the radio stations thought that we all wanted to hear what was happening!) so CD and rock and roll was the way to go for us - and when I say rock and roll what I actually mean is Neb's choice of rock and hip hop (I had to do some coughing over some of the swear words  - Car's parrot fashion copying is bad enough as it is!)

Off we went on a drive to Pembrokeshire and to our day out of choice and as you can see give a girl a map and she is happy:

 

So where were we, well we had decided to be wedding fever free and go to Manor House Wildlife Park

Now, I remember going to this many moons ago on Sunday school trips but since then it had closed. At the beginning of 2008, TV star Anna Ryder Richardson bought it and after a large restoration (some of which was covered on the ITV Wales programme Anna's Welsh Zoo) reopened it in the summer of 2008. I had watched some of the series and had stored it in my head as a place to visit so there we were.

I love going to zoo's but only if I can see that the animals are being cared for correctly. At the Manor House, all the animals look like they are being loved and not only that but you can also walk into some of the enclosures. We started the day (after taking the girls for the obligatory toilet stop - I'm sure Car has to go every toilet we see, maybe its a toddler thing!) in the Wander with the Wallabies walk. 

The Wallabies were very tame but mostly asleep and with our wallaby food in hand off we ventured:

And then we walked around the lovely setting and saw loads more animals. Yes, even Car of the "Carry me Mummy" fame decided that she would walk. Though, I do think that the Wildlife Trail helped a lot (Great idea!):
 

After walking around the park, we had lunch. If I had been more with it I would have packed a picnic as there are many places to picnic at the Wildlife Park- but eat we did. Both me and Neb enjoyed food from the specials board - Club Sandwich for me and Hot Dog with Preseli Gold Sausage for him while the kids tucked into Sausage and Chips.  After eating our well deserved lunch we headed to the play areas so that the girls could use up some more energy before our drive home. Both me and Neb loved the fact that the front lawn of the Manor House (which holds the restaurant) had space hoppers, bikes, toys and picnic tables on it for the children to enjoy whilst the adults rested. The lawn was also taken up by the best dragon I have seen in ages (and if my lawn was this big I'd have one too!

The other places to play which was a big hit with the girls and Neb (always a kid at heart - 6 or so he says!) was the Hay Barn which is as it says a barn with hay bales in.

All in all, a great day was had by all. We saw, fed, ate and shopped (another good point, is that the shop isn't in your face kinda thing - its there but not on the exit or entrance so you don't feel forced to buy). We are definitely planning to come again to the zoo as the atmosphere was so relaxed.

BNM

PS This is not a sponsored post, but if you are down in Pembrokeshire, Wales at all then this is a must visit place - as recommended by all of us here.

PPS You will ,if you go, get to see Anna Ryder Richardson herself and she is very friendly to all visitors, as my husband would agree as he did manage to talk to her as she was driving a land rover through the grounds! (I think he may now fancy her!!)