Wildwood Trust — Attraction in Canterbury

Visited on the 1st of September 2025, was our first time there (myself and two sons aged 2 and 5). The staff were lovely, very friendly and welcoming.

Some parts seemed a little overgrown and was hard to see the animals, that being said, we hardly saw any anyway. We saw a couple of ravens, some cranes, the artic foxes, two bison, two horses and some deer. By the time we got to the bison, my eldest was actually bored and asking to go home where he couldn't see many animals. My youngest, being disabled and in a buggy couldn't see anything at all where the lower parts of the pens were so overgrown.

We got to the park, which was great for my eldest but not for my youngest. Even in the under 5's play area, it just doesn't seem too accessible for disabled children and he was unable to use much of the equipment. Also, the looks of disgust I got from other parents visiting because he was crawling around in the bark made me feel very uncomfortable so we ended up leaving the play area (which my being uncomfortable is not the parks fault I'd like to add)

We got to the cafe, where there were signs saying sorry for any inconvenience but these items were unavailable all over the food board. They weren't serving any hot food which is what I wanted for my boys being it was cold, rainy and windy. The girl behind the counter offered some sausage rolls which my boys wouldn't eat, so I had to buy a kids lunch box meal. The sandwiches were stale upon opening them as well.

We ended up leaving after just over an hour after walking around, seeing barely any animals and not being able to get a proper meal.

And to add, which again, isn't the park or staffs fault but we were made to feel uncomfortable walking around by other people. At one point as we were by the bison, my eldest was talking about the animals (to be expected) and I had a woman and her daughter make some very rude comments about how we didn't shut up talking and they were trying to get videos. Well, you're in a public space which is family orientated, why complain and be so rude about people talking on a public space? Again, this isn't the parks fault but it definitely put a dampener on things further.

We will try the park again once my youngest is older and hopefully more able, maybe we were just...

A good little park with some wonderful animals. We have a family membership and my wife often visits with our 7 and 8 year old boys.

The play park is great with our boys being fans of the drop slide.

The bears and bear bridge are worth a visit to the park on their own.

The negatives and reason for 3 stars otherwise it would be 5.

I don’t always get the chance to go and have only visited twice in the last few years. My recent experience.

It feels it could do with a good power wash. Just the wooden railings, benches and around the park. It just makes it feel a little neglected and you don’t really want to be leaning or touching anything.

On this recent visit we got an ice cream. The Lady handed it to my son and he took two steps and the ice cream fell off. I didn’t realise and queued with the cone to get another with the opinion these things happen. If she is kind she may not charge us but would be a nice gesture if she didn’t.

Anyway, she explained that the ice cream is crumbly and they probably should do something to stop this as it does fall off the cones. (Basically said that it was a fault and sounds like it often happens). At this point I said, maybe you should warn people and as it seems like it’s your fault, will you be charging us? She looked at me and replied “that’s £2.75 please”.

A shame, I know it is only a simple thing but don’t say this often happens and make out it is your fault and then proceed to charge someone. If she said “sorry that happened but unfortunately I’m going to have to charge you”, this would probably be a 5 star review of...

Just returned home from my first visit to Wildwood, a really fantastic day out and thoroughly enjoyed our time there! I opted to take out the yearly membership as we live close by and this seemed extremely reasonable, we look forward to returning through out the year. The park is set within beautiful woodland. Lots of beautiful animals to see, all their enclosures were large and spacious and very natural looking with lots of places for them to hideaway if they wish too. some really great viewing areas especially for the badgers and wolves. We visited on an extremely hot day in August, we decided to book to arrive a little after opening this seemed a good time to see lots of the animals and we kept cool and shaded by the trees above. we visited with our toddler who enjoyed walking through the park but also was easy enough to push the buggy around. there's a large kids play area suitable for older kids as well as an area for younger ones too. There is an onsite café serving lots of lovely food catering for many dietary requirements and all very reasonably priced. There was also a hut next to café selling ice creams and refreshments all reasonably priced and with dairy free options. There is lots of picnic/seating areas if you bring your own food or just to wish to sit down and rest. I read on some previous reviews about some parts of the park looking run down, I didn't find this to true in my opinion. A really great day out for all ages! I look forward to returning again and trying the night...