Coolings Nature Trail

Stephanie one of our volunteers cleaning on the trail

Good morning people benny up and about #naturetrail #willowsbirdofpreycentre

Morning from Rocket #sundayfunday

Barry out for his daily walk #naturetrail #willowsbirdofpreycentre

Morning the wind is messing up my hair #windyday

And they are off #keepthembusy

Benny ready for weekend are you #weekends #thingstodo #willowsbirdofpreycentre

Good morning last day of halfterm weather nice pop down have a walk around

Now its getting warmer the tortoises are moving about more, Still inside far too cold for them outside #needstobewarmer #whensummerhere

Out flying hunting birds and this chap rolls up #peacocks #dontlikeus

Ducks don't mind the cold water #coldoutside #snowday #midweek #willowsbirdofpreycentre

We have been going to coolings for past two years & I am so impressed by the continually improvements this company makes. Membership is well worth the price & is fantastic for pre-schoolers to regularly visit.

We went today & loved the new birds of prey & miniature animals. Can't wait to visit again!

This place was a complete surprise, never been before but enjoyed every minute,my three year old granddaughter was able to run around in complete safety and loved all the animals a must see for all young families ����🐿

This place has all the ingredients for a great day out with young children. I cannot praise it highly enough. Little houses for role play, diggers, cars, animals to feed, fish to watch, toys to wish for and a superb café that you are welcome in. Oh and great toilets and changing facilities! Well done Coolings. You and your helpful staff deserve high recognition.

Thanks to your organisation for a delightful and well organised Santa visit. My granddaughter was quite overcome and very quiet but is still talking about it. It was a magical setting...much better than a shopping mall. And Santa was just as I would imagine him and very patient with our silent 2 yr old.

I might add that I am usually very cynical about Xmas but this was a lovely occasion.

So much more going on than when I last visited! Beautiful birds of prey in new enclosures, and more being erected. Animals in great condition, walkways clear, play areas good for children, fish and ducks ....... a great place for all ages! �

My wife bought us here today with the little one, and we are now the proud owners of annual passes :) So many lovely things to see and do - beautifully kept grounds, and staff are wonderful. Cannot recommend high enough ;)

Lovely little nature trail, really good for kids specially younger ones, and newly walking little legs.

Lots to see in the trail, very much worth the little you pay. Now they have added more animals.

Also they have a tractor ride on's and a sand digger for kids to play on.

Food is great in the cafe and the centre is lovely too

It's only up the road for me so we visit often.

I love visiting this place and everything about it...the cafe is nice and the food is lovely...the premises are great too (they could fix the train table and add more trains...if I have to say anything about it ;)

Have always loved the nature trail, a perfect run around for the kids and it now has the added benefit of being able to see birds of prey. Be aware though they have changed the way you buy the feed, there are little vending machines around the trail that take 20p to purchase feed so make sure you are prepared with the correct change. Also there is a little tea caravan near the Tree of Memories but again this only takes cash so make sure you have some. The only downside was the very long queue in the cafe to order lunch, especially torturous with hungry children in tow. Outside of school holidays it's much better.

Excellent place to visit with the kids. Amazing value for money with loads of animals & birds for the kids to see. Lots of flight demonstrations and bird handling. Knowledgeable and helpful staff too

Bloomin brillant! This place is fab! I took my goddaughters (5 & 10) and they did not want to leave! The animals and birds are lovely and well placed so that you wander around the woodland - we saw a joey climbing in mums pouch, handled an owl, fed the pigs, chickens etc. The girls particularly enjoyed the insect homes and were inspired to build their own!

We also ate at the cafe and have to say the food was exceptional and good value for money. Above all the staff were friendly, smiley & approachable - always a plus

A nice trail through some woods that adjoin a garden centre, the addition of regular demonstrations of owls and birds of prey make it doubly interesting and having the garden centre means parking, toilets and a (pricey) café, a good way to have some nice outdoor time with your family and for regular visitors there is the option of buying a year long pass.

A great day out for a young family. The birds of prey addition to the nature trail makes for a full day out. Informative for us adults and fun for the young people. Can't recommend enough.

We visited for the first time and were pleasantly surprised. The nature trail is lovely, really quite big and a great run around for little ones. Lots of animals to see such a small pigs and goats, wallabies, rabbits and lots of birds. We watched the birds of prey flying demonstrations and loved that too. Lots more too, places to hide and climb, little wooden houses and other fun bits for the kids. Spent two hours there then had a nice drink in the cafe. All very clean and the staff very helpful.

Really enjoyable few hours and the owl display/handling was an added extra. A map or better signposting would have made me give it 5 stars, I did see someone with a map but we were not offered one!

Nice to go with children they have animals like owls pigs goats. They show off the birds flying and children can meet them after.

Nice garden centre for coffee after food bit pricey xx makes a good afternoon out xx

Nice afternoon day out . Fed the meerkats and had walk around looked at the animals and had a drink in cafe however cafe is tad expensive in my opinion but over all nice place

I went on own (age 53) as i enjoy wildlife and taking pics. I thought I'd check it out for my grandson for a future visit.

It's worth it for kids that are into animals, although the cages aren't big enough by far. There's a beautiful green bird with red under its wings that keeps going around the cage. Barely enough room to open its wings and fly. Pity as the grounds have so much room and the cage could be 4 times bigger.

The path is okay for wheelchairs although made from bark and gets a bit muddy when wet. They do displays of owls and talks on other animals throughout the day. If you spent a long day there going to all the talks it would be worth the entrance fee.

Room for improvement.

Having been a visitor to this nature trail, long before Green and Pleasant took over the garden centre site, I'm now left somewhat disappointed with it now? Nature trails should be more about the nature. Not animals in cages and children's play houses. Yes the bird displays are great, if you're in to that kind of thing. But when do goats, budgies and rabbits in cages have anything to do with the nature of the woods? Forgive me, but there just seemed to be way too many captive birds and farm animals for me. Not much on 'nature' and having to pay for the privilege to view them smarts a bit considering this attraction used to be free. Might sound a bit negative with this review, but having visited many times over the years since my eldest son was very young (he's now 13!) I'm left slightly underwhelmed and a tad sad of what this place has become. I doubt we will visit again - commercialising a site like this has spoilt it. But I guess if you've never visited before and fancy a day out, then it's a good waste of an hour or so. Just be warned the cafe is very expensive (95p for a packet of Pomm Bear crisps!) and is often very busy.

We have been going to coolings for past two years & I am so impressed by the continually improvements this company makes. Membership is well worth the price & is fantastic for pre-schoolers to regularly visit.

We went today & loved the new birds of prey & miniature animals. Can't wait to visit again!

This place was a complete surprise, never been before but enjoyed every minute,my three year old granddaughter was able to run around in complete safety and loved all the animals a must see for all young families ����🐿

This place has all the ingredients for a great day out with young children. I cannot praise it highly enough. Little houses for role play, diggers, cars, animals to feed, fish to watch, toys to wish for and a superb café that you are welcome in. Oh and great toilets and changing facilities! Well done Coolings. You and your helpful staff deserve high recognition.

Thanks to your organisation for a delightful and well organised Santa visit. My granddaughter was quite overcome and very quiet but is still talking about it. It was a magical setting...much better than a shopping mall. And Santa was just as I would imagine him and very patient with our silent 2 yr old.

I might add that I am usually very cynical about Xmas but this was a lovely occasion.

So much more going on than when I last visited! Beautiful birds of prey in new enclosures, and more being erected. Animals in great condition, walkways clear, play areas good for children, fish and ducks ....... a great place for all ages! �

My wife bought us here today with the little one, and we are now the proud owners of annual passes :) So many lovely things to see and do - beautifully kept grounds, and staff are wonderful. Cannot recommend high enough ;)

Lovely little nature trail, really good for kids specially younger ones, and newly walking little legs.

Lots to see in the trail, very much worth the little you pay. Now they have added more animals.

Also they have a tractor ride on's and a sand digger for kids to play on.

Food is great in the cafe and the centre is lovely too

It's only up the road for me so we visit often.

I love visiting this place and everything about it...the cafe is nice and the food is lovely...the premises are great too (they could fix the train table and add more trains...if I have to say anything about it ;)

Have always loved the nature trail, a perfect run around for the kids and it now has the added benefit of being able to see birds of prey. Be aware though they have changed the way you buy the feed, there are little vending machines around the trail that take 20p to purchase feed so make sure you are prepared with the correct change. Also there is a little tea caravan near the Tree of Memories but again this only takes cash so make sure you have some. The only downside was the very long queue in the cafe to order lunch, especially torturous with hungry children in tow. Outside of school holidays it's much better.

Excellent place to visit with the kids. Amazing value for money with loads of animals & birds for the kids to see. Lots of flight demonstrations and bird handling. Knowledgeable and helpful staff too

Bloomin brillant! This place is fab! I took my goddaughters (5 & 10) and they did not want to leave! The animals and birds are lovely and well placed so that you wander around the woodland - we saw a joey climbing in mums pouch, handled an owl, fed the pigs, chickens etc. The girls particularly enjoyed the insect homes and were inspired to build their own!

We also ate at the cafe and have to say the food was exceptional and good value for money. Above all the staff were friendly, smiley & approachable - always a plus

A nice trail through some woods that adjoin a garden centre, the addition of regular demonstrations of owls and birds of prey make it doubly interesting and having the garden centre means parking, toilets and a (pricey) café, a good way to have some nice outdoor time with your family and for regular visitors there is the option of buying a year long pass.

A great day out for a young family. The birds of prey addition to the nature trail makes for a full day out. Informative for us adults and fun for the young people. Can't recommend enough.

We visited for the first time and were pleasantly surprised. The nature trail is lovely, really quite big and a great run around for little ones. Lots of animals to see such a small pigs and goats, wallabies, rabbits and lots of birds. We watched the birds of prey flying demonstrations and loved that too. Lots more too, places to hide and climb, little wooden houses and other fun bits for the kids. Spent two hours there then had a nice drink in the cafe. All very clean and the staff very helpful.

Really enjoyable few hours and the owl display/handling was an added extra. A map or better signposting would have made me give it 5 stars, I did see someone with a map but we were not offered one!

Nice to go with children they have animals like owls pigs goats. They show off the birds flying and children can meet them after.

Nice garden centre for coffee after food bit pricey xx makes a good afternoon out xx

Nice afternoon day out . Fed the meerkats and had walk around looked at the animals and had a drink in cafe however cafe is tad expensive in my opinion but over all nice place

I went on own (age 53) as i enjoy wildlife and taking pics. I thought I'd check it out for my grandson for a future visit.

It's worth it for kids that are into animals, although the cages aren't big enough by far. There's a beautiful green bird with red under its wings that keeps going around the cage. Barely enough room to open its wings and fly. Pity as the grounds have so much room and the cage could be 4 times bigger.

The path is okay for wheelchairs although made from bark and gets a bit muddy when wet. They do displays of owls and talks on other animals throughout the day. If you spent a long day there going to all the talks it would be worth the entrance fee.

Room for improvement.

Having been a visitor to this nature trail, long before Green and Pleasant took over the garden centre site, I'm now left somewhat disappointed with it now? Nature trails should be more about the nature. Not animals in cages and children's play houses. Yes the bird displays are great, if you're in to that kind of thing. But when do goats, budgies and rabbits in cages have anything to do with the nature of the woods? Forgive me, but there just seemed to be way too many captive birds and farm animals for me. Not much on 'nature' and having to pay for the privilege to view them smarts a bit considering this attraction used to be free. Might sound a bit negative with this review, but having visited many times over the years since my eldest son was very young (he's now 13!) I'm left slightly underwhelmed and a tad sad of what this place has become. I doubt we will visit again - commercialising a site like this has spoilt it. But I guess if you've never visited before and fancy a day out, then it's a good waste of an hour or so. Just be warned the cafe is very expensive (95p for a packet of Pomm Bear crisps!) and is often very busy.