Longleat 2011

After a good time

Lucy has had a very exciting time at Longleat

So not a great surprise that she flakes out in the car. Even in sleep she can still hold onto her lolly like Aunty Pink and a glass of Sauvignon Blanc.

Water World

In Longleat there is an Adventure Castle area for when you need a rest from wildlife. Children are immediately attracted to the Splashpad bit where random water jets are projected from the floor to their delight and amusement. Last time we came we were unaware of the Splashpad so Lucy got very wet and we had nothing for her to change into. Forewarned this year we took her swimming costume and a towel.

As predicted Lucy got very wet.

A small amount of smugness crept in as we saw all the other children getting drenched in their normal clothes.

Sadly our attempt to teach Lucy how to say schadenfreude was less successful than our packing

Simples

These meerkats seem pretty laid back as they hunt for insects under this bit of rotten bark.

Lucy leans over to offer the Namibian Desert Mongooses some advice on finding insects.

Suddenly it is high alert in meerkat world. Next time it might be better to send them a letter with insect hunting tips. They are jumpy little fellas.

Lorikeets!

We are at the Lorikeet Aviary at Longleat Animal Adventure. Lucy is pleasantly surprised how close she can get to these little parrot fellas.

Little does she realise that these are really friendly parrots who love making friends.

Lucy decides that this one is called Parroty.

We decide Lucy is called Parrot Butt Head

Lucy tries to encourage Parroty to climb on her arm again

Parroty is more than happy to oblige

Lucy has decided that she likes Lorikeets

Longleat Wild Animals

Longleat Safari Park is an extraordinarily good day out provided you have reasonable weather and good company. We had both with Aunty Lorna for company and a beautiful day. And Giraffes.

Lucy was making reference to the guidebook to help her identify the animals

For some reason Lucy still confuses Giraffes and Zebras. This is quite surprising given the amount of times she has watched the documentary Madagascar.

Hang on - who is this cheeky monkey?

Turns out that is exactly what he is. A cheeky monkey. Fortunately one that wasn't attracted to the windscreen wipers on Daddy's car. Some other unfortunate soles weren't so lucky judging by the discarded wipers on the road.

Daddy warns the monkey hoards to keep off his wipers.

Daddy is rather less authoritarian with these fellas. They look like they know how to handle themselves.

Being a Dr Who fan he isn't going to mess with these chaps

We park up the car so Lucy can have a good look at the deer. But they seem so far away.

Until they ventured a bit closer! Hello deer.

Lucy finds the deer quite amusing

Fancy some grub?

The deer did fancy some grub. As luck would have it, Aunty Lorna is there to provide more supplies.

Nom nom nom.

Last time we were at Longleat the Lions must have been on their holidays. This year they were definitely there.

We even got to see 4 baby lion cubs like Simba and Nala as well as the grown up variety

I think we can call this animal safari a success

Lucy at Longleat short film

Here is a short film of Lucy's day at Longleat Safari Park. The deer feeding at the end with Aunty Lorna is particularly amusing.

To see it on You Tube - particularly if you would like to watch it in High Definition, here is the link: Click Here

(Aunty Lorna guards against her image being put on the Interweb almost as vigorously as some religions discourage depictions of their imaginary friend. So we are very privileged to receive permission to share this.)

Postman Pat

Postman Pat appears to have a new assistant.

If I saw this chap in the park I would be calling the authorities. The cat seems nice though.

Lucy has a ride on the Longleat Railway

Lucy gets hands on with a big wabbit.

Longleat

We have come to Longleat Safari park. Lucy loves the Giraffes.

It would be nice if we could see them a bit closer up.

"Hello"

The rhinos seem the love the Wiltshire weather.

The camels don't seems to be missing the desert.

This reign deer stops by for a bit of fast food.

And seems to appreciate a little tickle under the chin.

Mummy's Greatest Fear

Lucy is a fearless little character so it didn't seem like much of a big deal to her to hold a tarantula.

Mummy, on the other hand, has had a long standing antipathy to our arachnid cousins. But having watched little daughter handle her deadly foe, she decided that this was her opportunity to confront her phobia. Mummy was very brave.

Although looking at this expression I'm not sure that you could say that Mummy and spiders had settled all their differences.