Tropical Butterfly House Wildlife Conservation Park — Attraction in Rotherham

This is a fantastic place to take kids for a day out—there's so much to do and it's compact enough for little legs to walk without getting tired. There is ample free parking as well as two cafes with lots of indoor and outdoor seating, a gift shop, an indoor activity space, an indoor picnic hall, sprawling covered and open air outdoor seating throughout the grounds, loos dotted in the most convenient spots, plenty of hand washing facilities, a splash park, a couple sand pits, a playing field, hammocks for lounging, a track with loads of ride ons, a zip line, a foosball table, garden games, table tennis, climbing frames, incredible exhibits with opportunities for up close encounters, talks and feeding sessions, and so much more—it's really clean, too, with friendly staff and reasonably priced, decent food.

The cafe within the grounds closes an hour earlier than the park itself, which is a little disappointing considering that's the only place within the grounds to top your water bottle up (they could really use a water bottle refill tap perhaps at the hand washing stations)—for parents who want to grab some drinks or a round of ice lollies for the kids in the play area within the last hour of their visit, they'd have to walk all the way to the entrance and through the gift shop to Lottie's and back again.

Both cafes offer a lovely selection of hot and cold food and drinks plus snacks, cakes, and ice creams—the prices are pretty typical and don't feel like they're nudged up just for being there on the park. The portions were generous and the staff were on top of cleaning tables, clearing trays, stocking cutlery, etc.

The ticket prices might raise an eyebrow—you pay for kids over 2 years old and a child ticket is only £1 less than a standard adult ticket..! Same goes for students and senior citizens—it's only £1 off. If you buy online, there's a processing fee applied, so we paid on the gate. With a standard adult ticket set at £16.99 (at the time of writing this) you're looking at £49 for one adult and two kids! It begs the question why they even take a £1 off at all. But then you save almost a tenner if you add another adult, so a family of two adults and two kids will pay £56 for entry—it's £68 for a family of two adults and three kids. I would say it's worth it, for sure, but they're clearly trying to ensure it's a certain calibre of guests entering—and it certainly feels like you're getting what you pay for in return.

Definitely going back and highly...

I went here and had a nice day! I really liked the butterflies and some of the birds... but the roaming peacock and the meerkats were my favourites. Overall, it's a really fun day out!

I'm taking off two stars:

One star, the more mild one, is for some strange theming inconsistency (the witch's house and a few other things just made no sense), but at the same time it was playful. There was also a lack of staff and educational opportunities - it was more fun than teaching.

The stronger star - almost two, but not bad enough to justify knocking this down to a two-star review of an otherwise fun place - were the aggressive "you break it, you buy it" type signs in the gift shop (not the exact wording, but that concept. I made sure not to buy any gifts as such policies are aggressive and unreasonable.

Without commenting on the legality or enforceability (ask a lawyer), remember that such policies are not intended to compensate for actual losses but aggressively try to collect far more than actual losses for accidents. Actual losses would be the wholesale cost of product minus any reduction in tax liability the business received from writing off the loss. Depending on profit margin (often quite high on gifts), the actual losses could be a tiny fraction of the sticker price for customer-damaged goods.

Thus, such signs are aggressive and unfriendly. And ask a lawyer if they're even legal, the opinions I've heard make it questionable at best. I definitely found myself uncomfortable and unwelcome in the gift shop due to all the signs.

Overall, a nice place. Definitely worth giving the gift shop a pass at the end unless you like having unfriendly signs in your face at every corner, but the rest is really nice - if a bit odd in places (and hey, sometimes the quirkiness is fun! I loved the faeries,...

sister visited and she pre booked this which is advisiable,we got there a little before 10am as was our booking time.as soon as we went into the place we didn,t know where to start!!!there are signposts so you can,t get lost.loads of fun especially if you have children with you,as a few surprises along the routes.the talking tree was one of my fav things,but there wasn,t a bad thing there.quite a few dinosaurs,impressive for the smaller kids.the meercats were obviously inquisitive and cute,i enjoyed seeing the 2 porcupines,the otters,the 2 crocodiles and the amazing array of birds in the butterfly enclosure.the butterflies were just stunning especially the blue winged ones.there,s also koi carp in a pond in the same area which are huge!!quite a few turtles/terrapins and 2 huge tortoises in the outside area,bits of information regarding the species on placards,so be sure to read them,don,t forget to press the big red buttons too!!there are loads of othe rthings such as tractor/trailer rides,falconry talks/displays,etc,if you want to do and see everything you would need the full day to explore which would make it worth it as it is a little pricey as kids prices only a pound cheaper than adults.all in all a very good day out made better by the lovely weather we had.there is a grassed outside area for those who want to take a picnic but also an indoors picnic seating area.there are also outdoor tables and chairs dependent on the weather.we ordered in the cafe and had 1 can pop,1 jacket potato with beans and cheese,side salad,1 jacket potato with tuna and a coffee,,,,paid just under £19.before we left we went into the little gift shop,not much relevant to the actual place really,the usual over priced soft toy animals,sweets,pens tiny notepads,etc.would certainly recommend to families with...