Longleat Caravan Club Site

We travelled the usual route through Brecon and Abergavenny, crossed the Severn Bridge, headed for Bath and arrived at this impressive site in time for lunch. It is peaceful here, with tidy lawns and mature trees. It has good play areas for children and quite a lot of resident wild life. Three mallard ducks came to our door after our lunch. They gobbled a Jacob's Cream Cracker shared between them. One dabbled his share from my hand but the others would not come so near. We saw a pair of pheasants here, the male muttered to himself as he ambled along, quite tame, and there are fat wood-pigeons feeding on the grass. Chris spotted what we thought was a peregrine, being mobbed. It circled and we saw its jesses and heard its bell. It was from Longleat, next door, being flown to entertain the visitors. So, not sure if it was a peregrine, do falconers fly peregrines or was it the more usual Harris Hawk? Our walk took us through a wood along the boundary of the Longleat Safari Park. We admired primroses and looked at beeches coming into leaf. Next, a little way off, we saw two giraffes peering at us as we passed along the path, and, oddly, a group of rhinos came into view, grazing, looking completely at home. We heard sea lions barking, again, strange, in this very English woodland park. The rhinos reminded Chris of Reggie Perrin, who saw a hippopotamus in his mind's eye whenever he thought of his mother-in-law; this was brought about by a visit to a Safari Park.

Location:Longleat Caravan Club Site