This is continued so if you haven’t already go see the original Longleat Safari Park post which covers the first few hours of the day and many of the animals that we saw. I soon realised that even though it was only a single day there was too much too include so here we are. Once you’re all caught up…

Before we went around the Safari in the car we took a tour of Longleat House. The house is still lived in by the Thynn family but parts are accessible and are as they would have been in the 19th century. I always find it interesting taking a look back in history and in same way would also love to see how the house has had to change over time.

If you follow me over on Instagram you’ll notice how much I enjoy green spaces. Whether this be gardens, grounds or parks I love walking around seeing the designs and plants. This was especially true at Longleat House where I could have spent all day in the rose garden looking at the glassed orangery. Whenever I am somewhere as huge as this I always try and imagine my days if I lived there. Days off going down to have breakfast in the garden or pruning and pottering when in reality if I did that the garden would become unruly and overgrown in one week flat.

The house tour allows you to go at your leisure, as there isn’t a timed tour but guides in certain rooms to answer questions. It finishes with a wander through the shops and, as I have a soft spot for homewares, loved Emma’s Kitchen where they sold beautiful crockery and foodie treats which I wish I had bought then as I didn’t manage to pick anything up after the Safari drive.

This is where we then got in our cars to head to the Drive Through Safari part of the day. It is a short drive from the house and you can even book a bus drive through the animals if you need one. On arrival at the gates we were also asked if we needed kennels if we had brought a dog so they’re ready for a few instances.

Once through the main gates you can then park up to see the giraffes and go into the Walk with Lemurs. They were in their enclosure with the goats and it was great to see them wandering around, taking food from the keeper (who was happy to chat as we were in there for a while) and running along the ropes above our heads.

We saw the giraffes shortly after with one quite close and the others waiting near the gates either for food or to go to bed. It was coming close to 3.30pm by this time and you could tell that the animals were getting ready to wind down for the night. Next time we would probably go late morning and swap the day around, seeing the house last.

Back in the car it was Safari time. Each enclosure is separated with double gates and the monkeys are one of the first. Surrounding their gate are car alloys and other parts that the cheeky ones have taken from passersby. At this point my husband asked if it was real or just for show and seeing them at work, jumping on and off of cars I don’t doubt that they are actual monkey finds. We got off pretty lightly going through as they had occupied themselves with the bigger car in front and most were sat in groups or with their babies which were very cute.

We slowly continued driving through seeing the lions and tigers and…wolves. The lions were mostly relaxing but with a couple that were seemingly swapping watch roles. In the tiger pen one tiger in particular was walking back towards the gate, closely followed by the keeper vans. It was the wolves that were the funniest with one lying down in the road refusing to move for the cars. He or she eventually got up with a little coaxing from the zebra print land rover so that the queue that had now formed could get past. We all loved the Safari drive but as previously mentioned we’ll go at a different time and probably go a lot slower next time to see more of our favourites. I’m not sure if you can stop for a few minutes but it would be nice to.

Have you been to Longleat before? What was your most memorable animal experience?

Until next time,

L x