Hemsley Conservation Centre — Attraction in Tonbridge and Malling

Unfortunately, we were left really disappointed from our visit here. On arrival, parking was easy and plentiful. No issues here! We entered into the tea room, and were charged £43.50 for 2 adults and 1 child. This felt a little steep for a self proclaimed “small” zoo, although we entered with optimism knowing that the upkeep of these animals is significant, and therefore hoped the experience would warrant the cost. We found this whole zoo very cramped. It felt as if the design prioritised fitting as many animals in as possible, rather than decent sized enclosures and good viewing spots. The zoo frequently emphasises that it is designed to allow animals to hide “off show”, but each enclosure had a tiny viewing gap, barely wide enough for the three of us to look through simultaneously. The overgrown look of the enclosures, although intentional, didn’t help with this as we were looking through a 2-3 metre gap in the fence into a crowded enclosure, with limited ability to have a chance of seeing any animals. We went to the spider monkey talk by Ben, which was okay, but nothing special. It felt more like Ben was gloating that they were “like his pets”, rather than giving any stories of the actual monkeys or information beyond what was on the sign. He was asked a question on the history of the female monkeys and why they were ousted from their group at London Zoo, and he didn’t know the answer. Something we found especially disappointing was that the signage around the zoo didn’t tell us any of the animals names or anything about them as individuals, such as what they like or distinguishing features. It felt very impersonal. I was really excited that the zoo had capybaras, as they are my favourite animal. I found it really depressing seeing the capy. Their enclosure was barren, just dirt and stagnant water. Although they live near swamps, they like areas with dense vegetation, not barren land, so I felt this was really unfair. We also only saw 1. I hope there are more, because they’re definitely not solitary animals! We completed the whole zoo within about an hour, which for the price was disappointing. Other sad bits included the wolf, which clearly had zoomania and was just pacing the perimeter over and over. All the walkways are really narrow too - you can’t pass another party, or you’d be hugging them on the way past! The toilets by the tea shop were adequate, but were just a portacabin. They had no paper towel and the hand dryer wasn’t working. The cubicle on the left, the toilet actually wobbled! We visited the tea-shop for a coffee before we left. This coffee was £3.30 for a latte, which isn’t too bad. It came in a lovely mug, so hopes were high, but it was just very bitter. We both like a strong coffee but it wasn’t even strong, just bitter! Overall, we left very disappointed. Yes, we didn’t speak to staff about our disappointment, which will inevitably be the feedback from this review. However, for us, this was such a poor experience that no matter what was said I don’t think the situation would have improved! Clearly with the positive reviews this park has got, generally people enjoy their visit, but this place was really not for us. If one thing is taken from this review, please do consider at least displaying the names of...

I've updated my original, honest review after a reply from someone at Hemsley claiming my review was rude and not fair.

Thoroughly disappointed by our visit back in the summer. Found the place on Google and looked around the website before deciding to visit. They clearly have a fantastic PR team, the website is smart and swarve and better than many larger attractions. However, the website built up an image of a much bigger place, despite staff claiming that the website is transparent about what they are. The map particularly didn't make the scale very obvious.

We didn't feel that the entry price was worth the 30ish minutes it took us to see everything. This is an incredibly small place! We had contemplated asking for a refund or whether we were missing something on our way out, but couldn't find a single member of staff. In the end decided it wasn't worth the effort.

The enclosures are small, some exhibits are glorified sheds. There are signs up everywhere which mock-up exhibit information for animals they do not have which is slightly confusing. Many of these signs are in places that look out over an enclosure without the actual signage for the enclosure being obvious. The meerkat enclosure in particular looked sad, being very small and having just 4 meerkats. Having attended meerkat feeds/talks at larger zoos, I recall staff at other places saying that they don't thrive in small group, this causes undue stress because they don't feel the safety (despite being perfectly safe from predators) of a large group.

Despite not meeting my expectations I was impressed by how knowledgeable staff where about what they do. We attended a talk which wasn't listed on their schedule, I think we gatecrashed a talk being given as part of a VIP experience.This ad-hoc talk didn't give me a great impression as the member of staff was wearing boots with a fair number of holes in. We tried to attend another talk that was listed but no member of staff turned up to give it.

The toilet facilities were subpar, I was reluctant to use the facilities with my 15 month old baby.

Overall we were thoroughly disappointed by our visit. Didn't feel that Hemsley was somewhere you'd spend more than an hour at. Probably great value for locals with annual memberships. I am sure the zoo and it's staff look after their animals to a high standard and meet various regulations in place (I am in no way questioning that), however, I personally felt sad for it's animals due...

This centre is amazing, however, if u r looking for a stereotypical big zoo, a place to go with smaller kids or a place where the animals are all completely on show (subsequently unhappy) then go elsewhere. It is a small conservation centre who really focus on the needs of the animals. Today when I went I arrived at 10 15 and left right at 5 when it closed, and a mix of going round multiple times, and being patient (we waited 45 mins for the echidna) we saw all the animals. All the enclosures are great and full of enrichment, and there are also off show areas that all animals can access if they choose to hide from visitors, which is great. The keepers are also very happy to talk to you and explain things, answer questions, and give u information. Before my trip, I was apprehensive as lots of reviews said the paths were muddy and boggy, however all the paths were completely fine and I didn't get muddy shoes at all. I also saw that ppl had said animals were pacing, however the only times I saw any interpretation of 'pacing' was the Geoffrey's cats patrolling when I was at the enclosure, and the tayra and otters going back and forth when they were about to be fed. No animals here looked bored. I also paid a small fee of three pounds to go up to the tapir enclosure and feed the tapir branches with a keeper who was also very nice and gave lots of information. All the staff were extremely approachable even for me, an autistic person with alot of anxiety, to talk to. All the animals were amazing, and looked very happy. We also ate and me and my gran are both vegetarian but had no issues finding options for us, there is also a range of vegan, and gluten free etc options. Overall I recommend if u don't have young kids (below 10) and u really care about animal welfare and understand that you have to have patience...