Cotswold Wildlife Park & Gardens Named UK’s Fourth Best Zoo in TripAdvisor Travellers’ Choice Attractions Awards
The Oxfordshire Zoo also rated twelfth best zoo in Europe, according to millions of traveller reviews and opinions
Cotswold Wildlife Park and Gardens has today been named the fourth best rated zoo in the UK in the Travellers’ Choice TM awards for Zoos, announced by TripAdvisor, the world’s largest travel site.
The Oxfordshire zoo, which started in the Heyworth family home in 1970 and is now home one of the UK’s largest zoological collections, is also named twelfth best rated zoo in Europe.
Reggie Heyworth, Managing Director of Cotswold Wildlife Park and Gardens said, “We are so delighted about our TripAdvisor award, up to 4th best rated zoo in the UK and 12th in Europe! Before TripAdvisor, our advertising and marketing reach was confined to Oxfordshire and our surrounding counties. With TripAdvisor’s extraordinary national reach, and its increasing global reputation, it is helping us to reach wildlife enthusiasts all over the world.
Comments on TripAdvisor are a vital source of feedback about where we need to improve, and a huge encouragement to all the staff here when people take the time to give praise. It’s great to be even just a tiny part of the TripAdvisor success story”.
Britain boasts more winning zoos than any other European country
It’s celebrations all round for the UK this year as it’s revealed that Britain boasts more winning zoos than any other European country, with eight of Europe’s top 25. Chester Zoo in Chester, Colchester Zoo in Essex, Blackpool Zoo in Lancashire, Cotswold Wildlife Park and Gardens in Oxfordshire, Folly Farm Adventure Park and Zoo in South Wales, Paignton Zoo, Durrell Wildlife Park in Jersey and Drusillas Park in East Sussex take fourth, sixth, tenth, twelfth, sixteenth, seventeenth, nineteenth and twentieth respectively.
The UK also lays claim to three winners among the world’s top 25 – second only to the US, which boasts the most world winners with eight and tying with Australia which also claims three world winners.
Within the UK it’s the South that takes the lead with more TripAdvisor Travellers’ Choice Awards for zoos than anywhere else in the country. Cotswold Wildlife Park and Gardens in Oxfordshire, Paignton Zoo Environmental Park in Devon, Drusillas Park in East Sussex and Axe Valley Wildlife Park in Devon take fourth, sixth, eighth and tenth in the UK respectively.
“These awards are based on the millions of reviews and opinions written by our global community of travellers and with the schools breaking up for summer in a matter of days, these winners should serve as great inspiration for a fantastic family day out,” commented TripAdvisor spokesperson, James Kay.
San Diego Zoo in the United States earns the coveted position of number one zoo in the world.
The annual Travellers’ Choice awards for zoos are based on the millions of valuable reviews and opinions from TripAdvisor travellers across the globe. Award winners were determined using an algorithm that took into account the quantity and quality of reviews for zoos, gathered over a 12-month period.
10 best rated zoos in the UK
- Chester Zoo, Chester, Cheshire
- Colchester Zoo, Colchester, Essex
- Blackpool Zoo, Blackpool, Lancashire
- Cotswold Wildlife Park and Gardens, Burford, Oxfordshire
- Folly Farm Adventure Park and Zoo, Begelly, South Wales
- Paignton Zoo, Paignton, Devon
- Durrell Wildlife Park, Trinity, Jersey
- Drusillas Park, Berwick, East Sussex
- ZSL Whipsnade Zoo, Dunstable, Bedfordshire
- Axe Valley Wildlife Park, Axminster, Devon