Longleat – part 1

In October we had a family weekend at Longleat.  We had been promising to take our sons to this famous safari park for many years and at last we achieved it this year.

The weather was overcast and threatening rain when we arrived at Longleat around 10 am on the Saturday.  We decided to begin with all the outdoor activities while it was still dry and save the more indoor areas of the estate for the Sunday in case the weather had turned wet.  So we began with the drive through the wildlife park.  First up was an area where you can leave your car and see the animals wandering quite close by.  It felt a little like having been dropped into Jurassic Park – the giraffes are so extraordinary and feel deeply ancient.  They were grazing with zebras, huge camels, ostrich and several others species.

Next up were the monkeys, but this section was closed to cars so we could only see them through the fence as we slowly drove past.  Then we saw the rhino, and a large herd of deer.  We were able to park here and hand feed them.  This was a lovely experience.  They are so timid and took the food so gently.

We carried on into the section of the safari drive where you have to keep your windows closed.  We saw lionesses—but sadly no lions—and tigers and wolves.  This tiger definitely knew how beautiful he was and that it was his duty to lie in a position where he could be fully admired.

All too soon the safari was over and we were back at the main car park.  We had lunch and in the afternoon took in the hedge maze, the boat trip to see seals and hippos and the train ride.  There were some really fun sculptures of giant ants to be seen from the train ride.

It was great feeding the seals from the boat.  They were so fast and full of personality.

As it was nearing closing time at Longleat we headed for the Caravan Club campsite.  Last year we joined the Camping and Caravanning Club, but this year we are trying out the Caravan Club.  This was our first visit to one of their sites.  It was clean and had excellent facilities.  We would recommend it.  The pitches are sizeable, but it was the first time we have had to pitch the awning on a hard standing.  It was difficult to peg it down.  The weather was definitely heading towards a rainstorm by now and we were concerned that we were going to have a problem.  The van only sleeps two so at least two had to sleep in the awning.

We had a pleasant evening but then the rain arrived and it was pretty torrential.  The van leaked a little from the passenger side sliding door, the awning did not provide a useful connection to the van, and rain got in over the groundsheets in the awning so that everything got wet.  We survived neverthless!  We have decided that we have to get a different awning.  This one is too big for the Peugeot – the tunnel opening is wider than the length of the van and there is no metal strip on the van for attaching it.  Khyam have been very helpful and suggest that we get an awning with a smaller tunnel that can be attached using magnet clamps or a sucker system.