Drusillas Park
Alfriston Road near Alfriston East Sussex BN26 5QS
The people behind this multi-award-winning zoo and adventure park have a keen sense of exactly what youngsters like best. Everything about Drusilla’s is satisfyingly child-friendly, from the animals (mostly small, colourful, cuddly and cute) and the Thomas the Tank Engine show to the restaurant menu, stuffed with healthy salads, crowd-pleasing pasta dishes and, of course, ice cream. The scale of the place is perfect too – though not over-large, it’s packed with interest. Kids can climb inside an observation dome to watch a heart-warming brigade of meerkats at ground level, get nose to nose with ring-tailed lemurs in a walk-through enclosure, or have a flurry of ridiculously colourful lorikeets land on their shoulders, arms and head. If that whets the appetite for something even more hands-on, they can sign up to be a zoo keeper for the day, learning about animal care from the full-time staff.
