This was all very last minute but at the weekend myself and my family went on a coach trip to Longleat Safari Park to see the illuminated display they have every single year. This years theme was fairy tale themed and of course , me being the giant child that I am really wanted to go and see the big display. The coach trip included a day in the safari park and the main site which also included seeing the display at nighttime. I've always wanted to go to Longleat so it was nice to finally go and see what it's like. This might be a very photo heavy post of lots of animals and big fairy tale themed displays !
When we arrived at Longleat we were given some time to go for a toilet break and a little wonder around. We headed to guest services as before we went I was getting pretty anxious about the birds. I have a huge fear of birds and get really freaked out if they are flying around. They had a tropical bird walk through that included parrots and cockatoo's flying around which of course would have freaked me out big time. Guess services were so helpful with mapping out where all the birds were so I could avoid those areas.
We then travelled to the top of the park where there was a lemur walkthrough and I got some pretty great photos of the lemurs who were sat cleaning their bits or having a little cuddle with another lemur. There was also Wallabies who were either having a clean or a nap. After looking around we then started the safari , we had to miss the monkeys as we were on a coach that had skylights meaning that they might try to get in. It took us 3 hours to get around by coach as we got stuck in a traffic jam of deer eating food off of the road.
There was lions , tigers , wolves , lots of deer and rhinos that we could see on the safari. The lions were my favourite to photograph as I think I got some great photos of them. After the safari finished we then hopped out the coach again to get some food , have a little look around and see the giant lanterns. The food was a disaster if anything because I had a panic attack at a table which wasn't that great but I didn't let it ruin the rest of the day.
We looked around a tiny part where they has Porcupines , meerkats and otters . The meerkats were allowed to wonder around in their enclosure so that you could be amongst them and I must say I thought they were adorable ! I have actually fed meerkats before so it was nice to be in an enclosure with them again and one even sat right by my feet ! I saw some birds and of course what did I do , I freaked out which lead my anxiety to be worse than it already was.
It got darker meaning the lanterns would be able to seen properly in their glowing glory. Every year Longleat have a theme with the lanterns and this years was fairy tales. I adore fairy tales so it was the perfect fit really. My favourites were the firebird , the dragon , the nutcracker and the giant sleeping beauty castle they had there. It was pretty spectacular really and felt rather magical too. You could also go into Longleat Manor for a nosey and oh my god it was the most beautiful manor house I've ever seen. It was decorated for the christmas season so it included a giant christmas tree in one of the rooms.
There was staff in fancy period outfits inside the house and even two women who were sat on a sofa doing some acting which I thought was pretty cool and made it feel even more authentic whilst looking around. The carriage inside made my draw drop because of how beautiful it was too. We then finished off looking at the lanterns we wanted to look at and then wondered around a gift shop where I brought a cuddly sloth.
I think you need to spend an entire day there so you can do the safari early , leaving you enough time to walk around the main park. I really wanted to go on the jungle cruise but because we didn't have enough time , it closed so definitely arrive early. Its the perfect day out if you have young kids too as I feel like its a lot more exciting seeing kids faces light up at all the huge lanterns. Also don't go by coach if you want to see the monkeys in the safari as its most likely that you'll miss it depending on what sort of coach your going in. Here are the photos I took whilst at Longleat and there will be a brand new post about the Harry Potter Studio Tour coming soon too !
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