I've also seen them at Ventnor Botanic Gardens and Robin Hill, though those both have an entrance fee. Brading Marshes, which is the RSPB's first reserve on the island, is another free place to try. WightSquirrels recommend a few other places, including The Garlic Farm in Newchurch and the Newport to Cowes cycletrack.

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15 Isle Of Wight Zoos, Animal Attractions And Wildlife Parks (2022 Guide)

There's a good choice of animal related days out and zoos on the Isle of Wight, with plenty of free things to do as well as paid attractions such as Tapnell Farm Park, Monkey Haven and Wildheart Animal Sanctuary.

If you fancy staying somewhere with animals onsite then options include:

the Island Riding Centre is an equestrian centre near Newport with dog friendly cottages called Valegro (sleeps 6) and Red Rum (sleeps 4) as well as accessible accommodation including Marengo (sleeps 6) and Pegasus (sleeps 8)
Nettlecombe Farm has alpaca, reindeer and Shetland ponies and offers farm feeding sessions for self catering guests. Options include Wren (sleeps 3), Corner Cottage (sleeps 8) and Swallow (sleeps 10).
Compton Farm is a working farm (cows, pigs) with camping and touring near to the Isle of Wight's South West coastline.

Anyway, here's our guide to 15 of the Isle of Wight's zoos and animal attractions. These things change all the time, so please contact us if you find a dead end.

1. Wildheart Animal Sanctuary (formerly Isle of Wight zoo)

Wildheart Animal Sanctuary was previously Isle of Wight Zoo before a name change in 2021.

Prior to that, we called it Sandown Zoo and my mother always tells the story of the time that my young brother happily toddled up to a tiger cub being taken for a walk along the seafront. In the 1970s it was described by the Sunday Times as ‘The Slum Zoo of Britain’ but it's a very good attraction nowadays. It specialises in big cats, but when we visited there were also raccoons, wallabies, owls and farm animals. Thanks to car insurance adverts, there is also a meerkat encounter.

See our guide to discounts to Isle of Wight attractions, which includes Wildheart Animal Sanctuary or the blog about our visit to the Sanctuary/Zoo.

I may be a tiger, but I'm just lion down for a bit...

2. Tapnell Farm Park

Tapnell Farm Park is one of the Isle of Wight's newer attractions with many of the animals being adopted from Seaview Wildlife Encounter and Coleman's Farm (both of which closed back in 2015). There's a petting zoo with farm animals, as well as wallabies and meerkats. There's also an indoor play barn and a bouncy pillow for younger children, an adventure barn for junior school aged children and a classy cafe/restaurant (Cow Co).

Read the blog about our visit to Tapnell Farm.

Life is full of ups and downs, and so is the jumping pillow

3. Monkey Haven

Monkey Haven is an award winning attraction which has various primates include lemurs, gibbons and macaques as well as owls including tawny, snowy and teat (that last one is a joke). Presumably the need for an owl sanctuary is in part because of all the Harry Potter fans who decided they wanted their own Hedwig.

It's not massive but it gets terrific reviews and we enjoyed our day out. As well as the animals, there's a play area for younger children and a tea room.

There are occasionally ways to save money on admission in our guide to discounts to Isle of Wight attractions

A busy schedule at Monkey Haven

4. AMAZON WORLD

Amazon World (PO36 0LX) has plenty to do, including a fair amount of indoor stuff. In case you're trying to complete an i-spy animals book, the highlights include monkeys, meerkats, otters, bats, ocelot, anteaters, sloths, lemurs, tortoises, lizards, snakes, turtles, parrots, toucans and fish (all subject to availability, of course).

They also advertise that they have cockroaches and ants but then again, so do some caravan parks. For more advice on saving on entry tickets, see our guide to discounts on Isle of Wight attractions.

5. Quarr Abbey (free)

Quarr Abbey is a working Benedictine monastery near to the Fishbourne ferry port, which welcomes visitors of all ages and has some pigs which you can feed with food purchased from the Abbey. There's a nice coffee shop which offers cream teas and about once a week they offer free tours of the grounds (donations welcome).

Parking is free as well - all in all, a great value outing. The current Abbey is early 20th century, but there is a ruin of the original 12th century monastery. There's also a nature trail through some woods, which leads to the Abbey. We managed it with an off-roader pushchair.

See our guide to other free days out on the Isle of Wight.

Quarr Abbey sounds like a headline in the Sun about Peter Crouch's wife

6. Search for a red squirrel (free)

The Isle of Wight is one of the few places in England where you can still see red squirrels. They are much shyer than grey squirrels making it much more of a challenge to spot one - they certainly won't approach you to steal a sandwich.

Alverstone Mead Nature Reserve and Borthwood Copse near Sandown seems to have been a successful spot for some people. Parkhurst Forest has got a 'hide' for visitors. The nearest postcode to the hide is PO30 5UL (read about our soggy visit to The Hide).

Google Map of Parkhurst Forest, which is a popular spot with red squirrels

7. THE ISLE OF WIGHT DONKEY SANCTUARY (FREE)

Free parking and free entry makes the Isle of Wight Donkey Sanctuary a fantastic value day out. It's obviously a charity so they do appreciate visitors making a donation or adopting a donkey. You have to leave it there though - it turns out their understanding of adoption is different to mine.

Looking for Isle of Wight hotels? Try our guide

8. Carisbrooke Castle Donkeys

One of the highlights of Carisbrooke Castle is the deep well, which has a bucket which is pulled up by donkeys walking around a huge wheel.

All the donkeys have names beginning with J, apparently because it was the letter that King Charles I signed off his letters with whilst held captive at the Castle.

You can also see the donkeys in their field by walking around the dry moat at the castle (you don't need to go into the Castle to do this).

You can get in free with English Heritage membership. See our guide to discounts for Isle of Wight attractions.

Carisbrooke Castle is home to some well good donkeys

9. Butterfly World

If the thought of confronting a monkey or a lion at one of the Isle of Wight's other animal parks seems a bit much, then you might consider a trip to Butterfly World near Newport.

According to their website, they have hundreds of butterflies and a wide range of Japanese Koi Carp, which gobble your hands. You can also watch butterflies emerging from their chrysalis (anyone know what the plural of chrysalis is? Chrysali?).

10. Robin Hill Country Park

Animals are only a small part of what's on offer at Robin Hill, so it's probably not worth going just for the animals. However, when we visited there were carp which you can feed (it's more entertaining than it sounds), peacocks and geese roaming the site, some caged birds and raccoons. They also have owl and falconry displays.

Read the blog about our visit to Robin Hill.

11. Horses!

Riding a horse along the beach always looks great fun in slow motion on films, so presumably it is several times more fun in real time.

Options for getting into horse riding include Island Riding Centre, Newport, Sally's Riding School, Bembridge and Hill Farm Stables, Freshwater

Be honest, have I got a big nose?

12. West Wight Alpacas

Have you ever wanted to trek Alpacas around the Isle of Wight? Perhaps not, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad idea. West Wight Alpacas in Wellow also has a fancy farm café and shop and gets good reviews on TripAdvisor.

You can visit the farm for about £8 or you can take an Alpaca for a walk for about £21 (2021 prices).

"It's going to be cold on this walk" "Don't worry, alpaca coat" (ha!)

13. Rockpooling (free)

Searching for crabs and other watery creatures is a great free day out. The general advice is to head over to Bembridge, where you’ll find a variety of crabs, anemones, sea snails and prawns. If all that fails, there's a nice pub in Bembridge which will do you a packet of prawn cocktail crisps.

Other locations include St Helen’s, Steephill Cove and Freshwater Bay (the hidden bit round to the right as you face the sea, rather than the stony bit). See our beach map if you're lost and remember to check that it's low tide first.

Between Priory Bay and St Helens

14. The Isle of Wight Reptilarium and Terrapin Sanctuary

Slimy creatures with forked tongues don't just occupying Mrs Thatcher's Cabinet (Ed: think you might need to update your satirical references). You can now see them at the Isle of Wight Reptilarium and Terrapin Sanctuary which is a smallish attraction in Fort Victoria in Yarmouth. They've got a selection of snakes, chameleons, geckos and frogs. It costs about £5 for adults.

15. Isle of WIght Deer Farm

This working deer farm opened up to the public in 2019 and now offers tours on foot or by vehicle. It's in a pleasant spot near to Carisbrooke Castle which I've often admired on the walk past Carisbrooke Priory. Occasionally I lean on a gate on Nunnery Lane, admire the view and say things like "ahhh, this is nice" even though there's no-one else there.

When I checked, the vehicle tour was £15 per person and the walking tour was £14 for a family of four.

"Is that too dear?" I said to the wife.

"No, they've got more than 200", she replied.

I'm sorry.

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