We spent a lovely morning at Birdland Park and Gardens. Birdland is a wildlife park in the beautiful Cotswold village of Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire, England.
We were exploring the Cotswolds during a February half term holiday and the weather was surprising glorious and mild. We had drove past Birdland in the days before we had kids and thought this is somewhere we would like to come back to one day with a family.
Birdland is set in nine acres of gardens and woodland and there is a huge and colourful selection of birds from flamingos, to parrots, cranes, pelicans, cranes, finches, Ostrich, owls, birds of prey and too many more to list.
The stream that runs through Bourton on the water flows through bird land and is incorporated beautifully within the bird enclosures.
There are over 130 species of birds on display, from some of the rarest, to the most unique species that have developed to live in a specific habitat.
Birdland is also home to England’s only collection of King Penguins. You are in touching distance of them and the Emperor Penguins like the biscuits are stunning to look at.
The talk from the zoo keeper was informative and a fun explanation that was interesting for the children. There is a great viewing area above and below the water level and the children had lots of giggles watching them zooming past the glass and also splashing you.
Daily Feeding display takes place twice a day – with a small feed at 11am and the main Penguin feeding display at 2.30pm.
There is Flamingo Point Café with lovely views over River Windrush and its resident group of flamingos. We didn’t eat at the café as had visited just after breakfast.
The indoor interactive zone was nice for the girls to learn through play and touch and come face to face with animals that lay eggs from fish to amphibians and reptiles to mammals.
There are opportunities to pay for and book in advance a Feed The Penguins Experience or Become a Keeper For The Day. My daughter would love to go back to feed the penguins, as she enjoyed feeding the Sea Lions at Longleat.
We exchanged our Tesco Clubcard vouchers to gain entry and were at the park for opening time so we were the first people to visit the penguins and felt exclusive. The entrance cost is £33 or £30 if booked in advance and save 10%.
There is a new dinosaur attraction opened called Jurassic Journey since our visit, we have not been able to review this.
We spent around two hours at the attraction, it is nice to go for a morning or an afternoon if you are in the Cotswolds but it is not a zoo or a whole day attraction. The park is mostly open air so I would advise going on a dry day or taking an umbrella with you. The park is clean and well maintained. We enjoyed the mini feed at 11am. There is a parking charge at Birdland but you can then visit the beautiful village of Bourton on the Water for lunch or a cream tea. There are lots of restaurants in the village to choose from and the village is wonderfully picturesque.