I have wanted to go to Chester Zoo for so many years. It's been a on my bucket list for lack of a better word. Luke and I both booked a week of work for his birthday. I'd so wanted to go abroad but Luke somewhat refused, citing the fact that he didn't feel quite comfortable doing that just yet. Unfortunately, I couldn't persuade him otherwise, not even with the temptation of New York, so before cancelling the annual leave, we went ahead and booked a UK break. I asked him where he wanted to go and he said Chester. He's wanted to go for a couple year's, but I've been before and don't particularly like it. I ended up treating him to the day trip and hotel, then tagging on a Chester Zoo trip which I've wanted to do for year's like I said.
Chester Zoo was everything I thought it would be and more. I had an absolutely amazing time and would have loved to be able to enjoy it for longer. I thought it was open 1000 - 1830, but unfortunately, it closed at 1600 to allow them to set up for the new Christmas Laterns event, and also because of the lack of daylight. We didn't realise till gone 1300, so we'd been leisurely enjoying our time. We'd barely gone through a third so we then had to rush quite a bit. I could have easily spent two days there!
There were a lot of different varieties of animals there, including many of the big five: rhino, lion, giraffe, elephants! I loved them all. By far my favourite animal was the monkeys, particularly the orangutan. Make sure you watch the vlog for this, because they were so incredibly cute. There was one in particular that was very cheeky. He spent a good 15 mins trying to break some trunk off a tree. Then, there was also 2 young babies clinging onto their mothers still. They were so sweet together, and eventually one got a little braver, and started swinging just above his mother.
I had initially wanted to book the add on for the lantern show but it didn't quite fit in with the rest of our plans because it didn't start until the Friday. We did however get a glimpse at it for free. They were setting it all up and as we walked through and dusk was coming, they were really quite beautiful. I think it would be great to see the entire path in the pitch black.
We then went to the hotel, checked in and unpacked, before heading next door to the pub. I was so impressed with it. We both had 3 courses and bottomless drinks for £25 total. It was so yummy, so the price just made it so much better!
The next day we headed into Chester! I'd originally chosen the hotel because they had free parking all day and it was only a 30 minute walk from the city centre. In the end, Luke wanted to go in on the park and ride, which was just a short drive down the ride.
When we arrived in Chester, it was fairly quickly 1100 and so the majority of people stood in silence for two minutes. I didn't quite realise straight away that we were also meant to stand still so I was a little embarrassed but I eventually got the memo. Oops!
We did the usual parts of Chester. We went shopping, walked along the river, walked around the wall, went to the Cathedral. I plan on sharing a "Things to do" post next year so stay tuned for that! I'd pre-booked a semi-fancy meal for lunch to celebrate Luke's lunch just the two of us too. It was a lovely Steakhouse. The food was yummy, albeit quite overpriced for what it was, and I was very disappointed with dessert, but the restaurant was lovely and very modern.
From there, we headed back to the park and ride, and then drove to Wales to spend some time with my dad. Stay tuned for the next part of our annual leave!
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