Wildwood Devon — Attraction in East Devon

Travelled quite far to see the red squirrels as it informs you on their website that their is the outdoor part where the squirrels run around freely & not in a cage but when we went, their was only one squirrel and it was locked in the cage. We asked reception why the squirrel was in the cage & they didn’t seem to know but said if we have a little walk around and come back abit later then we should see the squirrels running around. So we did that but only to find the one squirrel was still in the cage and hard to see from a distance. There was no other squirrels around. When we returned home I messaged them online asking why the squirrel was in the cage and they said she was in quarantine because she had tried to escape the day before or something. I was really upset & thought if we had known we couldn’t see the squirrels on that day, we wouldn’t have travelled so far to see them. Would rather have waited until a day they were not locked up in the cage. They could of atleast wrote on their website & other social media accounts that the squirrels were currently not out running around freely for the time being ☹️. Other than that it’s a nice little place where you can see other animals and have a nice little walk around in nature & they have some beautiful trees around. The little cafe isn’t too bad either. There’s some other activities aswell for kids and young adults to do. There is caged squirrels aswell in the main site which are lovely to see if you do get to see them but the last couple of times we have been, it’s hard to see them as they don’t seem to show themselves very often. Sometimes you don’t see them at all. I think it’s about just being lucky, seeing them at the right...

We thought we'd give Wildwood Devon a visit today, as we love animals, but sadly we were really disappointed. We don't like leaving a bad review when the charity relies on public support, but this is a review to hopefully point out areas of improvement for the charity to act upon to encourage more visitors.

Our first impression was that of beautiful surroundings, but once through the shed-type entrance everywhere looked quite run down. There were a number of enclosures that were overgrown and empty. Some enclosures were being upgraded, but not many. It was lovely to see the bears, however, they were in the holding pen as maintenance work was being carried out on their 'playground' enclosure, which was very big and looked really good. I wish we'd been able to see them in there. The cafe was reasonable, but very limited on choice. There were a couple of health and safety hazards in the courtyard which do need to be addressed; grates over drains not fitted correctly, hosepipe hanging on wall to water flower pots. In fact I think the charity would benefit from a Health and Safety co-ordinator, to include some training for staff members, as a member of staff was watering and the hosepipe was right across peoples walkway. Not really ideal, particularly for the visitor that was walking out of the cafe with a walking stick.

We felt the £43 that we paid wasn't justifiable and I hope Wildwood take this constructive criticism on board, and act on it as we really would love to see it becoming really successful as the animals...

This was a very strange experience, pervaded by a sense of unintentional neglect. I do need to say that the staff and volunteers were very friendly and helpful and would give them 5 stars, before I explain a little more...

The first few enclosures, it was very difficult to spot any animals and after some time were left wondering if there were in fact any lizards to see. This was followed by a visit to the otters, who were hiding, so we just ended up staring at an algae ridden concrete pool bubbling up with froth in some places. We did come back later and see the otters were out - they were very sweet and sociable.

The walkway to see the bear was nice and we did see a bear! There were a number of enclosures on the way though, where it was hard to tell if they were hiding anything and a water tank we just stared at for ages. The one owl we saw on that stretch did salvage a sense of complete despondence for that particular route.

The trip was saved, for me, with a visit to the Saxon Village where you could pay 50p to roast a marshmallow on the fire. There was a really interesting talk on the Saxon way of life and an insight into a few of the crafts. The exhibit included some huts, built the Saxon way, which you could have a look inside.

The maze was fun - again though, just tired around the edges and growing unruly.

Overall we didn't feel that £45 for a family of four was very well...