Studley Grange

Studley Grange #CountryKids

It’s funny when you visit somewhere you’ve been before, go to look at the blog post, and realise your previous visit was pre-blog!  This happened following our recent visit to Studley Grange near Swindon.  We’d enjoyed our previous visit there, and arranged to meet an old friend and her little boy there last month, as they live close by.

Studley Grange

Studley Grange is next door to a Garden Centre and houses a Butterfly World, Craft businesses, a soft play area and animal paddock, along with a cafe.  Parts of it are a bit tired, but it’s still a great place to visit with kids and Monkey loves it.  Little Master R is only 6 months old, but he seemed fascinated by everything around him.

Studley Grange

On our previous visit, we had discovered a meal deal which tied in with the entrance charge to the Butterfly World and Animal Paddock, sadly this has been stopped so it cost £4.95 for me and £4.45 for Monkey.  But you can go in and out of the Butterfly World and Animal Paddock as many times as you like.

Studley Grange

The weather was changeable, to say the least, so when it was wet we were inside with the butterflies and reptiles and when it stopped raining we’d pop out and see the otters, meerkats (including tiny baby ones), goats and pigs.

Studley Grange

Some meerkats looked decidedly familiar!

We watched butterflies emerging from their cocoons and we spotted some beautiful caterpillars having their lunch.  We watched the real meerkats running around, we got really close to otters – a wonderful sight.  We fed the fish and went in search of lizards and turtles.

On our previous visit, we’d taken a break in one of the crafts areas and did some pottery painting.  On that day the weather had been so bad we hadn’t even dared venture into the Animal Paddock.  This visit was a marked improvement, even though the weather wasn’t perfect.

The cafe serves hot and cold food and children’s lunch boxes too; all reasonably priced. The prawn jacket potato I had was overflowing with prawns.  The kid’s sandwiches are all freshly made to order.

We all had a wonderful time.  Monkey was relaxed enough to wander off in front of me.  It’s lovely to see his confidence grow, and not have him permanently attached to me these days.

I’m sure we’ll be back again in the future.

Studley Grange

 

 

11 thoughts on “Studley Grange #CountryKids

  1. It is so much nicer when children are ready to step a couple of steps from you and explore a bit for themselves. It lets them take longer over what interests them and everyone has a better time 🙂

  2. Gorgeous photos of the butterflies and how wonderful to be able to watch them emerge! It looks like Studley Grange has a great variety of animals along with the butterfly house, and with the added craft and play areas it all makes for a great day out. Thanks for linking up and sharing with Country Kids.

  3. What a fabulous place to visit and love your photos. But the shot of the ‘meerkat’ with the familiar face is extra special.

  4. Oh my! That does look a great place to visit. Your photos are beautiful. Can’t help lingering on the butterfly close-ups. Fab! #CountryKids

  5. I love reading about your days out because often they’re places I’ve never been to! Sounds like a lovely day out, off to google 🙂 x

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