Woolly says – The most important day of the year had arrived, the celebration of my Burpday and thanks to daughter Zoe I had a full day out planned with my bestie Sion.

As we headed off to the rendezvous the sky was grey with a damp feeling in the air, missing the warmth and sunshine of Africia I would almost enjoy the high humidity at this point and winter has only just started. Heading down the Welsh country lanes we passed the English border sign and headed towards Telford with over half an hour to spare. Our sat nav took us straight to the correct lane only for us to find out that the lane was closed for roadworks. The bright yellow diversion signs started, and Jo diligently followed them until they ran out and left us at more roadworks in the middle of an MOD area of Telford.

Arriving back at the closed lane the human took the sensible route of asking the workmen where to go which they very kindly gave us, sadly it involved more than two instructions of left, right and straight ahead so I knew we didn’t stand a chance with Jo’s dyslexia. We set off again and after a further six turn rounds found the correct route, pulling up nearly half and hour late. Luckily Sion and Jen his carer had had similar issues and were five minutes behind us.

I just hoped it would be worth it, to recover our sanity the humans opted for coffee before setting off to look round.

Woolly says – Sion and I spent the coffee break catching up on our travel stories and the delights of Istanbul and visa’s in Africa, finally with the last drop consumed we set off to discover Hoo Farm.

Started by Edward and Carolyn Dorrell, dairy farmers from Telford and one of the pioneers of dairy ice cream, moved to Hoo Farm in 1988 after their previous home was taken over by Telford Development Corporation for re-development.

The farm had been uninhabited for several years and had been used by the local council for growing Christmas trees. It was with these Christmas trees that Hoo Farm first opened its gates to the public, under the guise of Hoo Farm Country Park, it was the first place to offer ‘Cut and Dig Your Own Trees’ in the West Midlands. Animals were added and the farm became a tourist attraction, Jo remembers taking a very very small Zoe there in the 90’s!

Celebrating their 30th birthday in 2021, Hoo Farm Animal Kingdom took the huge step of relaunching as Hoo Zoo and Dinosaur World. With over 100 species of animals, 30 animatronic dinosaurs and activities taking place all day, in 2023 and 2024 they were named the 2nd Best Zoo in the UK on TripAdvisor.

We set of to see what the farm had to offer, a large field with a mixed bunch of sheep came first, the fleece brigade came racing across to greet us and see if Sion was a new addition to their herd. Next door were the Capybara’s who had the completely opposite reaction and choose to ignore our presence entirely.

A fluffy binturong, also known as the bearcat and known for smelling like popcorn, peered down at us from his play area, we waved to him before carrying on.

Lemurs, racoons and all manner of fluffy animals had homes here, most were being very sensible and staying inside their heated bedrooms.

Bright coloured birds pecked away in their cages as the goats stood by waiting for any food offerings there might be.

A large enclosure housed the farms wolf population whose beady eyes watched us as we passed.

Just around the next corner we arrived at the most exciting part of the tour, for us at least, Hoo Rassic World.

The noise in the wooded area left us terrified as we snuck past all types of dinosaurs that snarled and crashed their jaws together in hope of catching one of us for a tasty snack.

Everywhere we looked there were more of the prehistoric beasts, many of them protecting their eggs so we made sure to keep even further away.

Managing a quick snap with a T rex I finally spotted the one animal that I wanted to see, a mammoth of course!  He was a fine looking chap and having chatted away and admired his waving trunks Sion and I wandered onwards.

Cages of Lynx lined one side of the path with a deer park on the opposite side, you needed to hope that the two didn’t meet up.

Foxes, otters, meerkats and porcupine seemed to be happily going about their business barely pausing to acknowledge our presence.

With bellies grumbling we headed towards the T Rex café where I hoped we wouldn’t be on his lunch menu, settling in with some hot jacket potatoes we got back to talking and sharing our plans for the year to come. The day might be grey and cloudy, but the company was sparkling, and the dinosaurs were a hit with us all.