Dartmoor, Dartmoor Wildlife Park(Ben's Zoo)

Following all the recent hype both from the film "We bought a Zoo" and the DVD about the zoo and various marketing blurb online from various sources including their own website - a trip to the Dartmoor Zoological Park (DZP) seemed the perfect day out when down in the west country this week. I don't know which zoo some of the other contributors have visited, but it wasn't this one! Or if I was being cynical I may suspect that these contributors had some connection to the DZP.

I visited the park some years ago with my family and it was evident that the park / zoo was struggling then. Since then the place has changed hands and was being redeveloped / rebranded and improved. However, upon visiting the park and spending almost an hour walking round the entire site I have to say I was less than impressed.

It was a case with many of the enclosures of, guess if there is, in fact an animal in there or not, since some of the enclosures were so overgrown and unmaintained, it seemed impossible for anything to be in residence.

The only semi-redeeming enclosure was of the two lions, one of which had its own land rover, presumably for a quick getaway later.

This park needs to buck up its ideas and get down to some serious development work if it has any chance of attracting any repeat visitors. They need to take a leaf out of the Yorkshire Wildlife Park's book. This site has progressed year on year creating fantastic spacious and well laid out areas for each new attraction. It seems there, that the gate receipts are being ploughed back into the park for the benefit of the animals they have and the visitors who seem keen to come back again and again.

Come on DZP get it right or close it down. The country does need places like DZP and it would be great to see it grow and prosper for both the animals and the visitors, but at the moment it does neither.

Visited DZP with my sister and her two kids last week (age 8 and 10). Zoos aren't really my thing generally, but have to say that I have a completely different view having spent the day at DZP. Staff were lovely and friendly from the start of the day, right to the end.

The animals are very well looked after, have lots of space, and its amazing to be so close to them. It's not a big sprawling zoo so it's easy to walk round without getting over-tired, and it has a really nice friendly, family feel about it. Amazing to see the tigers, the bears, the otters, didn't see the wolves (must have been hiding!) and so many more. The birds of prey show was also amazing. My words mean nothing here though - you MUST visit it to see for yourself.

Price wise, I think it was £32 for a ticket for 4 - so really good value - and the prices once inside were not silly as you see in some places. The food in the restaurant was also really tasty, really good quality and sensibly priced. Really, really impressed, and really really lovely to meet Benjamin Mee - made my day! Bought the book, saw the film, and now been to the actual zoo. REALLY recommend this place to you if you're in a hour or so's drive of it. Really worth the trip - oh and the niece and nephed loved it too! LOL.

We travelled for 7 hours to go to Dartmoor Zoological Park after our son watched the movie and became obsessed with it (He has aspergers syndrome hence the obsession :) We were so happy we did as it was fantastic! People keep commenting on the steep walk up to the zoo but we loved it,(we had a buggy and two 75 year olds and they enjoyed the walk too) there are animals all the way up and they have huge enclosures to roam around in. The whole feel of the zoo is so different to all the other manufactured zoos we have visited as theres a huge picnic area in the middle and its a mini adventure getting to each section of the zoo without tons of ice cream trucks etc distracing the childrens attention from the main reason we visited. The animals! They are fantastic, Tigers, Lions, Brown bears, and loads more. Not to mention the adorable otters. We all (6 adults 3 children) had lunch in the restaurant and were amazed how good the food was. The jacket potatoes came with loads of fresh salad and were boiling hot with good quality toppings. The shop had a lovely assortment of books, stuffed animals, pictures and toys. After reading other peoples reviews im shocked at how people can complain that there were stingy nettles, lol, the zoo is set in the middle of the country side! What do people expect? The whole place has a magical feel to it and we had an amazing day there, if we lived closer we would visit every weekend!! The staff were so helpful and stopped to answer any questions the childrens had to ask no matter how silly lol. This is the best zoo we have visited by far (and weve been all over the country!)

This is the 4th or 5th time I have visited this place. Many years ago as a child I went with my parents and can only remember the smell. It was disgusting. Have been since and each time come away with a feeling of depression,mostly with an instilled memory of a poor bear sat waiting for people to throw peanuts to him. Since the fuss about a film etc I thought i'd give it another chance and hoped things had changed when I made the decision to take my 2 children. Well....what can I say....Nope things have not changed in the slightest. The whole place has a feeling of abandonment about it. While I admit the animals look to be in good condition, the surroundings are not. My son actually spent most of our time there avoiding being stung by the multitude of stinging nettles. The enclosures look tired and run down. The childrens playarea ( and i use that decription loosly) consisted of a swinging log ( which was actually far from swinging) and a few wobbly cable drums. ( an accident waiting to happen in my opinion). The only new enclosures I saw were one housing a few monkeys and to be honest this looked like it had been hastily erected without much thought to design or ease of cleaning. The second was a meerkat enclosure outside the restaurant.The walk in enclousure housed a few goats and upon leaving it we noted that the hand sanitizer was empty and had been for some time by the looks of it. After being there for about 30 mins and having seen all the animals we decided to enter the restaurant. Having looked at the very slim pickings on the menu we decided on what to eat and made our way to a table before ordering our food. On pulling out the chair I saw it was filthy and stained. We then decided to forgo food and left. So all in all I was left with a feeling of depression, I understand that money issues have plagued the place but the car park on that particular day was packed. Does it really cost too much for someone to go round and tidy weeds etc? On another note while walking around I heard a family discussing if there were elephants at the park. I sincerely hope they never have permission to keep them. We left after about an hour,that was more than enough for me and my 12 yr old daughter, who had announced that she didnt like it there after about 5 mins because she felt none of the animals were happy.I really really hope the film enables them to put a lot of resourses into the place and smarten it up, but to be honest I'm not hopeful. I wont be giving it anopther chance I'm afraid. I'll stick to Paignton and Bristol which in my opinion are wonderful zoos.

One of the best days out we have had. A mixture of zoo and walk round safari park. Staff were helpful and the animals looked so happy and natural. Drinks expensive but loads of picnic places. The surroundings are beautiful. You can easily spend a full day here and not want to go home. Went with a 7 year old and 2 10 year old and they all thoroughly enjoyed it, including the 2 adults. Hope they don't put prices up as it is wonderful to get value for money for a change nowadays.

Our thoughts are that the Dartmoor Zoological Park could do with being better sign posted, around the area and at major route juntions, also a good sized "We are Open" at the entrance during holidays, such as just after Christmas. This would quite possibly draw more visitors!

This Zoo is very good and gets top marks for the animals, who are well kept and their enviroment. Well done keepers! The grounds are well kept, though the garden area (with the grave stones), could do with a over path branch clip! The restaurant has a good menu, with quality food served quickly and pleasantly by the courteous staff. The shop stocks quality products that are not over priced. We visited on an overcast,grey, and misty day but the roar from the magnificent Tigers and Lions, and chatting with the cheeky parrots, admiring all the other animals was well worth the journey. We plan to come again soon. Good Luck for 2011, and may it be prosperous year, so you stay open!

While the zoo is still in need of some renovation the enclosures are of a good size for the animals housed there. If you love big cats,especially, tigers, this is a must visit for you. I have never been so close to these beautiful animals at any of the other parks we have visited and they are stunning. Vlad, the 10 year old male is awesome. The Jaguar is also stunning to look at. At £9.50 for an adult the entry fee is also one of the lowest. I am sure if I thought it was this good in the middle of winter it must be even better in the summer. The owner, Ben Mee, also took the time to answer questions on the tigers, even though he was busy with a camera crewe. Great day out for everyone.

11 of us visited with age ranges from 1 to 59 for a birthday. We all had a fantastic day and the kids are still going on about it days after. Would definately go again and definately recommend. Food in the restaurant was also really good value for money and it was good having a few toys and books for the little ones whilst the big ones rested their legs a bit!

We visited the Park after I had read an article in the WMN re the tigers. I thought it was a lovely place, the animals look so well looked after and happy. We paid the £10 to see the tigers and I rate it as one of the best things I have ever done, what does it matter if some areas of the Park need some TLC, surely the animals wellbeing is the most important thing and I hope the money is raised to keep it open. We will certainly visit again in the not too distant future.

It wasn't easy to find so maybe more advertising would help.

My partner and I are both 49+ and my mother is 80. What do you buy your 80 year old mother for her birthday when she already has everything including a family of 6 Yes you got it a keeper for the day at the Zoo. We travelled from the north east and thoroughly enjoyed our day. On arrival mum managed the hill and we had a coffee before starting. Staff were very friendly and it may not be a 5* restaurant but it is a zoo. we set off on our day and yes we were lucky as we had an escort the whole of our visit. How many 80 year olds do you know have stood 6 inches from the jaw of a magnificent lion like solomon he wasnt as pleased to see us as we were to see him. On our visit it seemed all animals wanted to be seen tigers the cheetah and even Ben the bear. How many 80 year olds have held a snake, stick insect or cockroach, my mum did under the supervisopn of Sylvia who convinced her to participate. We found the animals were very happy in an environment which suits them. It may not be freshly mowed lawns but they are happy. We will certainly visit again and wish Ben and all his staff the best of luck at this difficult time.