Yarak Birds of Prey — Attraction in Mid Devon

I started to write this review and thought It started to sound like I was over exaggerating what a special place we find Yarak Birds of Prey, then looking at the other reviews here on this page I can only say that we can whole heartedly agree with all the positive comments without question.

2007:We first had the pleasure of visiting the centre back in 2007, both myself and my wife took our eldest 5 year old daughter to see the birds fly, she seemed to like the idea of holding some of the beautiful birds and get close to them, we as parents thought she may be worried about some of the bigger birds (How wrong we were…) she loved every second of the day, from flying the fast kestrels to her own hand, the lovely owls across the open field to grab the food from her glove, right through to walking through the wooded area and having the Harris Hawks weave and dodge through the branches of the trees, come down to about 2 or 3 feet off the fielded area and race towards her and at that last moment to gracefully open its wings and break and land on her glove, she was so excited for weeks afterwards always asking when we could go back and do this again!!

2010: three years after our first visit when our youngest daughter was now 5, we found the whole process yet again was a complete repeat of our first visit, yet again not enough can be said to praise the centre and its staff who were fantastic in our opinion in presenting information to our children, the way they talked and interacted with all of us was simply top notch, its clear to us that the owner of the centre (John Pitson) takes great pride in what he does, the love he has for the birds is there for all to see, the same can be said about the staff that make you feel so welcome all day!!

2012:When we asked our eldest what she would like to do for her 10th birthday we suggested a couple of obvious options in the local area, I wont say what places/attractions we mentioned but we wanted to let her choose a couple of friends to take to wherever she decided to go, well she wanted to take her friends to Yarak Birds of Prey, the impact of her previous visits stayed with her and she was buzzing for weeks before we went back, afterwards they were all buzzing on the way back home, talking about all the things the did that day..

Well, in short…Go there, do it, enjoy it..

Recently we were passing the area so went to see the new public centre and the food area which was great, had a great pasty, kids had a sausage role as long as their arm lol followed by some cookies and some sort of chocolate pastry thing for afters but I have no idea what it was called but it was yummy…. We WILL be back again very soon to do it all again…. O, one last thing..Us parents enjoyed it even more than...

Took my 11 year old son here as a birthday present today. Lovely location set in beautiful countryside and handy for us being 5 minutes from home. The staff are very welcoming and extremely knowledgeable. On arrival we grabbed a cup of tea/hot chocolate and were allowed to wander around and look at some of the birds in their averies before being lead into the indoor flying barn (due to recent bird flu outbreak they weren't flying them outside). We got to handle and fly several owls in the morning and then had a break for lunch. The food choices were fairly limited but a good enough variety for most people to find something they like. The food itself was nice and a decent size, prices were equivalent to going to a pub, not that I begrudged paying as the money helps support the centre. After lunch we went back to the barn and enjoyed handling and flying numerous birds which was great, the staff told us about the habitats they would be found in the wild along with information about the specific bird.

Overall a really enjoyable day which both my son and I really enjoyed, would highly recommend anyone with an interest in birds of prey to come here. Thank you to the staff for making it a...

We have visited twice. 1st time was a birthday treat for my husband. We enjoyed every minute of the experience, even as a spectator I felt like I was on the experience too, I was able to get as close as my husband to take photos. Everyone of the team are amazing. Very warm and welcoming, the birds are so well cared for, John's clearly loved by his birds.I love that it's a very personal experience and small groups the birds definitely seem alot happier than ones we have seen at other "attractions" where they're not as cared for. Food was lovely good choice of meals all lovely and good price. I spoke to John about my son who has a development delay and John said I could bring him along to am owl experience so we booked that and went along, my son loved meeting the owls. He really enjoyed it and was so happy when we left. I would give this place 10/10 we will be back again in the summer absolutely worth every penny. Would never go anywhere else for a bird experience. Thanks to John and everyone...