Ratings

Buggy - suitable throughout the zoo, large wheeled buggies would be beneficial*.
Carrier - good throughout zoo.
Walking - like most zoo parks, fair bit of walking, but plenty of places to sit down.
Toilets - Standard disabled toilets are available.

Wheelchair - some of the paths might be difficult for a standard chair.

*buggies are not allowed in the Lemur walkthrough or Lori Landing.

Things to note

One carer can be admitted free with a paying disabled guest - upon proof of eligibility (DLA/PIP, etc.)

Bristol Zoo Project

Right, before any pedants start, I know Bristol isn't in Somerset - however as we were holidaying in Somerset, I included it in this section of my blog! To be fair to me, Bristol Zoo Project isn't even in Bristol, but South Gloucestershire - but hey!

OK, housekeeping out of the way! We love a zoo and thought we would give this one a visit. To be honest, I hadn't heard of Bristol Zoo Project until we were looking for places to go while we were away. Apparently this site was previously known as Wild Place Project, but was re-branded upon the closure of Bristol Zoo.

Once in the zoo we were greeted by a very nice volunteer, who gave us some indication of what to expect on our first visit to the zoo - that was a nice touch!

I have said before, that as an autistic child our Little One is a little unusual, in that he doesn't often have meltdowns - well, today he decided that would be an exception. We got into the zoo and put his shoes on - oh! did I mention before, he doesn't like wearing shoes - anyway, as quick as I got them on, he took them off. We did keep them on long enough, with a bit of cajoling by my wife, we ran him into the butterfly maze.

Currently the zoo has a trail to commemorate the Very Hungry Caterpillar, which we didn't do, as Little One doesn't have time for stopping and looking at unimportant things, like signs! Anyway, the maze is one of the focal points of the trail.

We did, however, manage to run round the maze, which was a bit of fun and an aside from the animals on the park.

After the maze we were able to walk on and find some of the other animals the zoo has to offer. Probably at this point I should mention the pathways in the park. We had brought our small-wheeled special needs buggy for this holiday, as space can be at a premium when holidaying. The buggy handled the ground really well, even the slightly long grass in Tower Meadow.

One of the feature areas of the zoo is Bear Wood. This area, set in 7.5 acres of woodland, has been cleverly dressed up as a period of travelling back through time and what you would expect at various times in history, going back 8,000BC then forward to the present time.

It was here that Little One went into full melt down mode. The whole area here is a brilliantly laid out decked walkway, but for some reason Little One decided he didn't want to walk, despite trying and playing with him, he wasn't having it and got very upset. We put him back in his buggy and he got worse.

It's occasions like this that bring it home to you, as a parent/carer of a non-verbal autistic child, that it is very difficult to get into the head of what your child is thinking, what is making them so distressed. We tried the usual bribes, of a treat from his treat bag, which didn't work and then tried to give him his tablet to look at. The tablet worked with moderate success, but despite brining our portable wi-fi device the tablet only partially placated him. It didn't help, with the zoo being quite remote, that the wi-fi signal was a bit patchy!

Anyway, as a consequence we rather rushed round this area, which was a real shame, as I did manage to capture a few pictures of the resident bears trying to keep cool in the blazing sunshine (yes, I know, sunshine!).

We didn't get a chance to look for the wolves that also inhabit this area, as Little One was too distressed and making a lot of noise that would probably have disturbed the animals, as well as the human visitors.

We walked on, fortunately by now Little One had settled. Unfortunately pushchairs are not allowed in the Lemur walkthrough area - this isn't anything new, as pretty much every zoo or wildlife place we have been to hasn't allowed pushchairs, for fairly obvious reasons. It's just a shame, when you have a child who needs the security of their wheels, that there isn't some provision for such!

Anyway, my wife and grand-daughter went through first. On their return they said how good it was, and that there were loads of Lemur jumping in the trees and posing for photos! I then went through, with my wife - of course, by now, the Lemur had all decided they no longer wanted to pose for pictures, so all I got was a back and side view of a ring-tailed and Mongoose Lemur.

Regrouping we moved on and found a Meerkat enclosure, with the insurance selling animals trying their hardest to avoid the sun.

From here we went to the giraffe enclosure. This is a nice paddock with giraffe, zebra and eland all roaming free. There is again a decked slope, to get to the giraffe house, where these beautiful animals can be viewed if they are indoors. Unfortunately the exit from this leads to set of steps down to ground level, however retracing your steps takes you back to the decked slope.

Moving on brings you to Tower Meadow. This is a lovely area for having a picnic and was the final collection spot for the caterpillar trail. There is some welcome shade here, under a couple of big trees and a Gandalf's Hat style shade in the middle - a warning sign was in place to be aware of ticks, as the grass was quite long! Well, it is a meadow after all...

The tower here, apparently, was designed by Edward Dent, the same man who designed the tower that houses Big Ben - impressive eh!

Having rested, and Little One sampled the delights of a Tunnocks Teacake (he's not about to be sick, honest) and taken a break from the heat, refuelled - we moved on!

On the day of our visit it was a very hot day, and we did start to struggle towards the end, but that's just part of being older carers with a pushchair to push and a lively young man to look after!

If you like a smaller zoo and you are in the area, the Bristol Zoo Project is well worth visiting.