White rhino beside the manor
A breeding group of white rhino grazes in a moated paddock beside the house alongside giraffe, zebra and ostrich, with a raised platform that puts you level with the giraffes.
ciukes — CC BY 2.0 · Vauxford — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Vauxford — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Lewis Clarke — CC BY-SA 2.0
What stops you at the manor is not a statue or a fountain but a breeding group of white rhino, grazing in a moated paddock beside a Georgian-Gothic facade of 1804, with giraffe, zebra and ostrich sharing the same ground. That single contrast — a full African paddock dropped into a clipped English garden — is the reason to come. Opened in 1970, the park now covers about 160 acres and holds more than 1,500 animals of roughly 250 species, one of the largest zoological collections in Britain. Beyond the African enclosures there are Asiatic lions, clouded leopards and red pandas, Humboldt penguins with twice-daily keeper feeds at 11:00 and 15:00, a Tropical House where sloths move overhead with nothing between you and them, and the Madagascar walkthrough, where you pass the lemurs at arm's length. The gardens are not mere backdrop either: the sheltered Walled Garden is planted to exploit the microclimates the site gives it. The ground is flat and the paths are wide and maintained, so pushchairs and wheelchairs go almost everywhere — the exceptions are the Madagascar walkthrough and the train, where pushchairs are not allowed. A narrow-gauge railway loops the park from April to October, midday to 16:00, for a token fare (£2 adult, £1 child), and the Skymaze playground takes whatever energy the children have left. Allow four hours at least; two hours buys you half the park. Getting there is a car job. The park sits on the A361 some three kilometres south of Burford, five minutes from the town and about forty minutes from Oxford, with free parking and no useful bus to the gate — set the sat nav to OX18 4JJ rather than the postal code. And plainly: this is a place for families with children. If you are travelling without them and have one day in the Cotswolds, the honey-stone villages deserve it more. Most of the route is outdoors, so budget for rain; in winter the gates shut at 16:00 with last entry at 15:00 and the animals are slower, and from early January to early February the park closes on weekdays for maintenance and opens weekends only. In the summer holidays it genuinely sells out — buy the e-ticket first.
A breeding group of white rhino grazes in a moated paddock beside the house alongside giraffe, zebra and ostrich, with a raised platform that puts you level with the giraffes.
You walk among free-ranging lemurs with no barrier, and sloths move overhead in the Tropical House — though pushchairs are not allowed inside the Madagascar enclosure, which shuts before the rest of the park, at 15:30 in summer and 15:00 in winter.
A narrow-gauge railway from April to October, midday to 16:00, the Skymaze playground and flat wide paths make this one of the easiest family outings in the region.
Bradwell Grove, Burford, Oxfordshire OX18 4JP
With children between about three and twelve, yes, and it will probably be their favourite day of the trip. Without children, no: Bourton-on-the-Water, Bibury, Stow-on-the-Wold and Burford itself earn a short day more, and the park offers little you could not find at a zoo closer to London.
Not realistically. The nearest station is Charlbury, about eighteen kilometres away, with no taxi rank and no direct bus to the park, so you would have to pre-book a taxi both ways. Buses reach only Burford High Street, three kilometres off, and walking on from there is not an option — the A361 is fast and has no footpath. Hire a car; parking is free.