A wonderful place to visit. Kept very well, clean and staff lovely and knowledgeable. All areas very clean and good prices on the tea, coffee and snacks. Animals well kept, mostly small animals to look at. Experiences at £30 per person . We loved spending 3 hours there. Over 100 species of animals, including lemurs, meerkats, monkeys, wallabies, alpacas, armadillos, reptiles, birds and many endangered species. * A wallaby walk-through area where you can get surprisingly close to the animals. * Keeper talks and animal demonstrations throughout the day. * Small play areas for children. * Picnic areas, gardens and grounds to explore. What makes it different? It’s actually a training zoo for animal-care students, so many of the keepers are students learning animal management. Visitors can chat to staff and learn about the animals and conservation work. Extra experiences You can book special experiences such as: * Feeding meerkats * Lemur encounters * Zoo keeper experiences * Reptile experiences These are separate from normal admission. Is it worth it? For younger children, definitely. It’s not as big as places like Chester Zoo, but it’s much more manageable for a half-day outing and is usually considered good value. Most families spend around 2–3 hours there. The zoo itself is Northumberland College Zoo at Kirkley Hall near Ponteland, about 35–40 minutes from Corbridge. 15 min from Newcastle. For today, I’d recommend aiming to arrive in time for any keeper talks and the wallaby walk-through, as those tend to be children’s favourites.