As part of our staycation this year we headed to Staffordshire and one place that everyone mentioned was Trentham Monkey Forest, so we thought it best not to miss out.
We arrived at around 2 after an awful rain and delay filled journey to find the attraction had had sun all day and was dry and bright. Much relief was felt by this mummy after expecting to don our wet wether gear it was a pleasant surprise to not even need our coats!
The monkey forest is in two sections the outer section houses a play area cafe and information centre and then then there's the monkey forest.
The play area is lovely and the kids played happily for an hour while we had a cuppa and a relax.
Once you go inside the forest you are asked not to eat or drink and to ensure you have no plastic bags, I assume for the same reasons you wouldn't leave your kids with bags either!
The forest is set in 40 acres of land visitors follow a 3/4 mile trail up hill and then round and down hill its a large oddly shaped oval. The pathway is easy to walk and we had no issues with the pram, although the downhill was quite a steep incline so keep that in mind if you are managing a wheelchair or when choosing your footwear! Pretty slippy heels are probably not the wisest choice!
Dotted around the path are information boards with multiple choice questions on so the kids can learn as they go.
We arrived right when they had started a talk which was really informative and there was a chance to ask questions too, we loved asking about the baby monkeys and were amazed to see the youngest baby who was only 2 weeks old!
You aren't to approach the monkeys and obviously the parents of the wee monkeys were keen to keep them shielded from strangers but they are happy to go about their business while people walked past.
We were amazed and a little stunned to see that the monkeys will run right by you if the sense food is on the go or pass by to get from one side of the path to another. Termite did get a shock when a monkey as tall as her strode by looking for fruit!
The monkeys are Barbary Macaques native to the Mountains of Algeria and parts of Morocco they are used to much colder winters than ours so they actually stay out in the open much more in our climate than they would in their own
We really enjoyed our trip and I'm sad the traffic meant we didn't have longer to also visit the barefoot walk in Trentham House next door as I hear it's amazing
A trip to the Monkey Forest will cost
| Monkey Forest Tickets | |
| Adults: | £8.00 each |
| Senior citizens/students: | £7.50 each |
| Children (from 3 to 14 years old): | £6.00 each |
| Disabled/carers: | £5.00 each |
| Under 3 years old: | Free of charge |
Groups:
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We have special rates for groups of 20 or more paying visitors. Please see the groups section of the website for further information.
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Enjoy Monkey Forest and Trentham Gardens... | |
| Joint Tickets | |
| Adults: | £16.00 |
| Concessions | £14.50 |
| Children (from 5 to 14 years old) | £13.00 |
| Children (3 and 4 years old) | £6.00 |
| Carer and Disabled | £9.50 |
Our advice would be to buy the combined ticket and make a long day out of it. There's plenty of places to eat a picnic and you can go round the forest as many times as you want, so if you get there early enough you can see the monkeys, visit The gardens, have a picnic and go back to see the monkeys again!
Posted with Blogsy by The Monkeyfooted Mummy 
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