Skegness Seal Sanctury is much more than its name suggests. Yes it is a place of sanctuary for seals but it also houses an aquarium, a reptile house, an aviary, a butterfly house, penguins, goats, alpacas, guinea pigs, a tortoise, terrapins, a restaurant/cafe and of course the obligatory gift shop.

There are talks about and feeding of the seals at regular times by those who look after them and clearly love what they do. It is great to see the speed at which some of the seals move to catch fish. The way they are fed is often to get them ready for release into the wild. It is a good reminder that this place is doing great work in looking after and rehabilitating the seals.

My visit was just outside of normal season (March) and so certain things like the butterflies, alpacas and tortoise were missing due to the cold weather. The chickens and turkeys were also missing and the penguins were indoors but this was due to the ongoing issues regarding Avian Influenza.

The cafe looks like it is recently done up and boasts a 5 star food hygiene rating. However the rest of the sanctuary is looking rather tired and dated. Sadly improving things would be costly and places like this usually only have enough money just to look after the animals. As such, unless some kind benefactor comes along, I can only see it deteriorating further.

Overall it is far better than its name suggests. My family enjoyed it and I would definitely recommend a visit here.