Get to know animals CIC — Attraction in Epping Forest

I feel sad to be only giving 2 stars as there is lots about this place that's really nice. We visited today with our 3 and 1 year olds. It is expensive, but I don't mind paying to help rehome rescue animals. It's a small space and got quite crowded in places, but it is cleverly laid out, with an interesting array of animals, and our children loved it. We were there about an hour and ended up in the small cafe, again very expensive. We were the only ones in there at the time, and enjoyed chatting to the friendly lady serving in there.

We were about to leave and our son started to cry loudly about wanting crisps. We started to usher him towards as door, just as one of the owners came out of the zoo and into the cafe holding a ferret. He immediately took it upon himself to chastise our son very sharply, telling him children 'didn't behave like that here'and he would 'scare the animals' - the only animal nearby was the one he had brought out! It was completely inappropriate, utterly uncalled for and made a difficult situation that much worse.Earlier I had seen the same owner tell two other children off so sharply i had assumed he was with them, but obviously not.

It was just so unnecessary, unkind and ruined the visit for us. Our son is 3, cannot always control his emotions and wasn't doing anyone or any animal any harm. The lady serving in the cafe was really upset and apologised profusely after he had left, despite our assurances that she didn't need to. Be mindful of this if you are attending with small children - in this respect it really isn't child friendly.

*EDIT in response to manager's response, as it isn't possible to respond to a response!

I think you must be mistaking us for another family, which is concerning as it suggests at least one more child was reprimanded by you today. Our son was crying for less than five minutes before you approached us , and for most of that time my partner was trying to coax him to leave. There is absolutely no way we would permit him to scream for 40 minutes in an indoor space. If you had paused for a moment to observe it would have been clear that there was no need for your intervention, which felt more about asserting your authority than concern for the animals. If a crying child is going to cause animals distres why then bring a ferret into the room with you to tell said child off?

What also concerns me about this interaction is that my son is a neurotypical toddler but what if he had a disability, or a hidden disability like autism - would you have intervened in the same way? What if we hired the space for a birthday party and a child cries? Do you stop the party? Where does it end?

If you feel a child is behaving inappropriately, even if they are doing something commonplace like crying, unless it is something dangerous that requires an immediate response, the appropriate thing to do is to speak to the parents, i.e. in our case 'excuse me I'm worried your child's cries might upset the animals, could you possibly take him outside until he's calmed down?' Not to chastise a three year old. The lady working behind the counter appeared as upset as we were and apologised profusely for your behaviour, which I think...

An overall positive experience. We chose to come on a Saturday afternoon. Entry fees were reasonable compared to anything to do with animals in London. The place is however a bit small, but combined with animal handling experiences available, the experience really came through. We spent around 2 hours there and it was quite busy with lots of families. We had hoped that signing up for animal handling experiences first would’ve helped in making the process quicker however due to the high number of customers, there were a few drawbacks. For example, as one starts a handling experience, staff will take the opportunity to bring in other people who chose to do the same one. This makes the experience a bit less special, specifically for children who will then see others touching animals which they perhaps are waiting for their turn. We had thought that there would be more continuity in the experience, as if a specific member of staff would take you through all the animals you chose to handle however this was not the case and a bit disjoined, specially on busy days like the one we chose. Staff are nonetheless very friendly and knowledgeable on the animals. The real stars of the shows are the beasts themselves. All animals appeared very well kept and very friendly with everyone. Staff made people comfortable around snakes and tarantulas alike. (Kudos to Rob for helping out with the snake) The animals made up for the waiting times in between the experiences. I would say the shop could do with a revamp and the choices of beverages and food was poor, limited with small snacks and ice creams. Unfortunately the ice cream I chose appeared to have been defrosted, then refrozen and was soggy. I flagged this to the member of staff at the shop who was happy for me to get a replacement free of charge. The shop would also benefit from more personalised merchandise rather than generic toys, something for children to remember where they have been perhaps? Activity books? Overall this was a GOOD experience. The small issues highlighted above are what differentiate this experience from good to excellent. If the place was a bit more organised in terms of animal handling experience, maybe the experience would be more personal to each customer, and feel even more special. Do not come to this place thinking you will only have a look at the animals behind their enclosure. You NEED to book the handling experiences to truly experience GTKA fully. Will recommend and still think prices are very reasonable. A good experience with the family, will...

I planned this visit for the kids as they love animals ❤️ I planned our trip as we were going by transport. It all looked straight forward until we got off the bus (the buses don't take Oyster cards, and so, you have to pay with your bank card). The directions were straightforward, but the time it it took to walk there was wrong. It said 3 minutes, but it actually took 37 minutes of walking on a very narrow path very close to the traffic. My youngest was scared 😱 of how close and fast the traffic was moving.

When we finally made it, it was great. It was smaller than I expected, but nevertheless we had a lot of fun 😁

There was a lovely crocodile 🐊 to greet you at reception. The lady at reception was very friendly and went over the rules with us. Then we were on our way. There were loads of animals. From fancy rats, rabbits 🐇, guinea pigs, lots of different birds 🐦 hedgehogs, skunks, tarantulas, fish 🐟, insects, monjeys 🦧and more. The parrots 🦜 do talk to you. It was so funny 😁 They liked the attention 🤣.

On our way to the shop, one of the staff asked if we would like to hold a small snake . We jumped at the chance, and it was fantastic.

The staff were super friendly and made time to answer any questions we had.

The gift shop was small, but you know kids, they will find something to buy 😀 The guy in the shop was lovely. He looked up the bus times, but we would have had to wait 50 minutes, so we got an Uber to Epping station.

I will be going back as they have sessions where you can hold the animals starting from £5. This time, I will get an Uber, from and to...