Families love this little zoo in a countryside setting, and an added bonus is that its neighbour is an award-winning ice cream farm
It’s the region’s newest zoo, but it’s already being hailed a “great day out” and “fantastic experience” by families who have visited its location in the heart of rural Cheshire. Holmes Chapel Zoo is a burgeoining animal centre set in a field right next door to another popular attraction in the area, the Bidlea Dairy Ice Cream Farm.
The zoo has only officially been open here for just over a year, but has big plans for expansion in the years to come. For now, it might best be described as a mini zoo with big ambitions.
It houses a host of animals in enclosures across its outdoor field site, including meerkats, tortoise, skunks, owls, deer and wallabies. There are also animal talks with the zoo’s team held across each day, and the chance for children to hold some of the creatures like lizards, guinea pigs and snakes during regular intervals each day.
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It’s a reasonably priced attraction for families, with adult tickets at £8.50 and child tickets and concessions for £6, while under-2s go free. There’s also a family advance saver ticket for two adults and up to three children for £26 if booked 36 hours in advance of your visit.
For those who want an even more hands on day at the zoo, you can also add on “Zoo Keeper Experiences” as well as more personalised meetings with the meerkats, skunks, birds or the reptiles (from £45 per person).
Owners have created a rustic play area at the site, using recylced tyres for them to bound over and crawl through.
There’s also a tent where children can colour in a host of pictures of the animals that they’ve just seen around the zoo, which they can then take home as a keepsake. On the way out you’ll walk through a gift shop with lots of cute animal toys too.
Despite the rural location, it’s only four miles off the M6 at Junction 18, and with a main line train station down the road at Goostrey, so it’s pretty accessible for people to get to.
It has won a number of rave reviews on Tripadvisor, and now ranks as the number one thing to do in Holmes Chapel.
Writing on Tripadvisor, pengwerns wrote: “Lovely experience. We visited the farm with our son, daughter-in-law and two grandsons and really enjoyed it.
“The zoo is fairly small but there were quite a few different animals to see. The staff were very friendly and informative and we learned quite a lot. There are different experiences to do.
“Our grandsons stroked a lot of the smaller animals and the older one held an owl – which was the highlight of his day.”
Joan R wrote simply: “Our youngest daughter ABSOLUTELY LOVED this experience!”
Katy G called it an “enjoyable afternoon” writing: “Lovely little zoo. Both my boys 13 and 10 had a lovely afternoon. The staff were very friendly and knowledgeable.”
Angela Allan headlined her review: “Do not hesitate to visit this new zoo, it’s so cool”, In the review she wrote: “This was such a brilliant experience. We took our grandchildren. (8+6) who absolutely loved it, as did we. We spent 4 hours there and made the most of the day. Went to some talks about the animals which were fantastic. The staff are obviously so keen and informative.
“Although the zoo is in its infancy, it has some interesting species that the bigger zoo doesn’t have, ie Kookaburras and skunks to name a few. Absolutely brilliant. The neighbouring cafe and facilities are excellent and just a couple of minutes walk away.”
Evelyn L wrote: “We didn’t know what to expect, the admission prices are very reasonable. The zoo is small but perfectly formed, the staff are very personable and well informed.
“Some zoos can be overwhelming for children by their sheer size and you only ever get a snapshot of the animals. There is a play area and you can take a picnic and also go to the Bidlea dairy for food and drink. All in all a great day out in the heart of Cheshire.”
Travellers169 described it as: “Lovely small zoo with a good selection of animals for its size! There are activities throughout the day but at the moment this is probably a couple of hours for the regular visit, but being next to Bidlea Dairy you have a nice cafe to visit as well.
“Loved the friendly staff and my daughter had such a good time meeting the animals. Can’t wait to see how it grows. More than happy to pay a bit extra for holding the animals to help that.”
The ice cream farm next door
As if the zoo were not exciting enough, there’s also the large Bidlea Dairy Ice Cream Farm next door too. It not only boasts an epic array of award-winning flavours of ice cream, but boasts a full cafe area with hot drinks, cakes and savoury treats like toasties and pie of the day too.
The ice cream farm first opened in 2021 and has expanded since then to now include big seating areas outside, including an upstairs terrace that boasts incredible views of one of Cheshire’s most famous landmarks, Jodrell Bank.
They open every day til 7pm, but are even able to cater for your dairy fix after hours too – as they have 24 hour milk and ice cream vending manchines at the farm.
The diversification into ice cream was a true turnaround story at The Orchards Farm, which is run by Ray and Jill Brown and their son’s Adam and Ryan and their wives, both called Becky.
Over a decade ago the Brown family were witnessing what looked like a critical decline for dairy farming with supermarkets offering their lowest ever price for their cow’s milk at 16p a litre.
So they decided to start processing and pasteurising their own milk with the creation of an adjoining dairy on Twemlow Lane – with milk pumped over the road by a supply line straight from the free range pedigree cows into the dairy to produce fresh milk 24 hours later, supplied to local farm shops and wholesalers.
It would be a fortuitous decision, and when lockdown came into force in March 2020, demand for fresh milk surged and Bidlea partnered with local delivery surfaces across Cheshire to get their product direct to customers.
And the idea to do ice cream came as another knock-on from lockdown. They invested in ice cream equipment and started to experiment with flavours before launching their product.
And just via word of mouth and social media, crowds began to flock to the farm for the artisan ice cream.
You can choose from a raft of daily changing flavours of ice cream, with 24 on offer each day from a full roster of 80. Expect the likes of Biscoff, turkish delight, bubblegum, gold top and mint choc chip – with single scoops from £3.30, double scoops for £4.30 or go large with a triple scoop for £5.30. They also offer the option of one or two of your choice of flavours blended into a bespoke milkshake topped with whipped cream for £6.25.
How to get there
Bidlea Dairy Ice Cream Farm is open every day from 9am to 5pm, on Twemlow Lane, near Holmes Chapel, Cheshire, CW4 8DS. It’s around a five minute drive from Junction 18 of the M6 motorway.
It’s free entry and free parking at the ice cream farm and cafe.
Holmes Chapel Zoo is just behind the ice cream farm, and is open 10am to 3pm on weekends, and from 11am to 3pm on weekdays. Tickets can be purchased online in advance which is recommended, although can also be bought on the door.
The nearest train station is at Goostrey, which is on the main line between Manchester Piccadilly and Crewe, which is then a one mile walk to the zoo and ice cream farm location.
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