Sadly lately I’ve felt like I haven’t been spending as much time with the kids at the weekends as I would like. I’m not sure whether it’s the fact that the weather has been a bit meh, so we’ve just been staying in doors and some what hibernating or if it’s just because our lives seems to be a lot busier than usual. Whatever the reason I have felt the dreaded mum guilt kicking in, so when we were invited to Noahs Ark Zoo Farm in Bristol recently to experience their Christmas Activities I jumped at the chance to spend quality time together as a family.
The festivities at Noah’s Ark start from the 20th November and finishes 23rd December. Thru out November the park is open 10.30am until 5.30pm and from December to January 10.30am to 4pm. We arrived at the park on a Saturday when it opened at 10.30am and I have to admit the park was busier than I thought it would be but thanks to the shear amount of space there wasn’t much waiting around to see and do things or queues.
As you explore the park you can follow the beautiful light trail around the zoo, reading you go Christmas story as they go. The trail is lit with hundreds of christmas lights which the kids loved looking at and you can read the Christmas story as you go on the mission to find St Nick and claim their delicious reward.
Between 12pm – 2pm daily, St Nicholas is in the N- shed hiding. Once we completed the Christmas trail, it was our turn to take the kids to meet him. The kids really enjoyed getting to meet him and hearing a bit about who he was and what he use to do. To keep in the spirit with things the kids were given a gold coin each (chocolate of course!) as a reward for finding him just like the real gold coins St Nicholas use to give to people. It was a lovely added touch to getting to meet him.
After visiting St Nicholas in the N-Shed, we had finished just in time to go and see the Elephants. Everyday at 1pm the Elephants are brought inside to the Elephant Eden for the zoo keepers to give an elephant talk. Also in the run up to Christmas the elephants having been enjoying eating Christmas trees which the keepers have hung up for them inside the Elephant Eden.
After the Elephants we took a walk around the park to see what other animals they had to offer. There are so many wonderful animals to see at Noah’s Ark zoo farm, everything from to camels to birds and even Gibbons. The Kids had so much fun watching the Gibbons enjoying there food, especially when they were using the toes and hands to hold it.
Before it was time to head home, as it was starting to get dark and a lot colder. we had two more things we wanted the chance to do before leaving, the first was feeding the goats with the kids, thing the kids had been asking to do since we had saw them earlier that day. The goat feed was avaliable for us to buy from the gift shop for £1 a bag which was great value. The second thing was to see one of the most Christmassy animals of all that Noahs Ark Zoo Farm had… The Reindeer.
The kids had loads of fun feeding the goats and seeing the Reindeer was a real magical way to end our day out. It was lovely experiencing all the christmas related activities Noahs Ark had to offer. I would definitely love to visit again try out some of the other things Noah’s Ark has to offer like the outdoor parks, indoor soft play area’s, a huge outdoor maze. The kids were so busy exploring and seeing the animals that sadly we didn’t get to see these. However we still had a fantastic day out and would definitely recommend for others to come and visit whilst the Christmas Event is on, theres even some extra special events planned on particular dates in December such as:
– Saturday 9th December: Ark Angel choir performance at 2pm in the Ark Arena.
– Saturday 16th December you can watch a festive performance of the Christmas story with real animals at 2pm in the Ark Arena.
-Saturday 23rd December you can get involved with your very own Christmas Nativity with real live animals, at 2pm in the Ark Arena.
All of which are included in the entry price you can just turn up and get involved.
What a lovely little zoo always great to be able to get so up close with the animals and all the festivities look lovely too!
It looks like a great place to spend time with the family, and so festive too. It gets harder to get out when the weather isn’t so good but this looks like its definitely worth the effort.
What a great little zoo and very festive. I totally adore elephants 🙂
Oh this looks like a lovely family festive day out! My daughter loves seeing the animals 🙂
Oh my goodness, we’ve been hibernating too! IT is definitely the weather. This day out looks amazing though and a great reason to get outside even in the chilly air. My two would love seeing the reindeer… my eldest is obsessed with them at the moment.
Looks like a lovely place to visit and you seemed to have had a great time. Love that there are reindeer there, my son loves seeing reindeer it seems to make it all more magical and real for him because you dont see them anywhere throughout the year only at christmas time
What a lovely zoo. Love the festive vibe 🙂 we haven’t been to a zoo at all this year! X
Aww, what a lovely day out. I would love to take my Daughter to see the reindeer 🙂
Ahh what a gorgeous looking zoo! It looks like a great day out, the reindeers are lovely this time of year!
It is really cool that some zoos do this sort of thing around the holidays. I don’t live near a zoo unfortunately (the nearest one is two hours away) but its lovely to see that your kids had a great time:)
I’ve never even heard of this place but it looks lovely! I love that they get into the festive spirit xo
Will keep a note of this place, Kian hopes to study in Bristol so need places to take the kids when we visit
Wow! This looks fun for me. I’ll have to recommend Noahs Ark Zoo to a friend who’s visiting Bristol next week. I’m sure her kids will have loads of fun.
What a fun place to take the kids. My boys would be in their element here.
Lovely to see you enjoyed your day out 🙂 x
If we’re ever in Bristol we will definitely be going here!! It looks incredible xx
Fab post- it sounded like such a great family day! Love your photos too!
Wow this place sounds so lovely! Such a festive day out too, its really great how much they have on for kids there. I’m with you on the parenting guilt at the moment. I do think its the weather and being in more that makes us feel like we’re not doing enough, when really we are! x
lovely write up -your photos are very similar to mine hehe! #bristolbloggers