The New Forest Otters, Owls and Wildlife Park

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This is an absolutely super place to see Otters, and also other wildlife. It is the sister site of the Chestnut Centre.  On the site of a former Butterfly Farm, the large greenhouse has been converted to otter and ferret pens; the otters also have access to outside pens via tunnels through the walls. The rest of the site is outside, in woodland. There are mink, the outside portion of the inside otter pens, deer, wallabies, pine martens, Scottish Wildcats, lots of different kinds of Owls,  a lynx called Oden and Wild Boar.

There are three species of otter on show here: Asian Small-Claws, Eurasian Otters and North American River Otters.

There is a good tea room, which serves light lunches, soup, cakes, tea, hot chocolate and so on. There is also a shop selling a good range of wildlife merchandise, including excellent otter prints.. During the run-up to Christmas, home-grown trees are sold from the car park.

The whole site is run for the benefit of the animals and their needs, but it is also well laid out for the visitor.  The conveniences are outside the park proper, as is the tearoom.  In Summer, access is via the Shop, but in Winter, you buy your ticket in the tearoom, and enter by a side gate.  There is restricted opening in January and February, as this is when most of the refurbishment and animal moves are done.

There is plenty of car parking, mostly put down to tarmac. The part of the site where most of the otter pens are is flat with gravelled paths, but the deer park and where the lynx and wallabies are is more uneven, though there are good paths

The New Forest Otters, Owls and Wildlife Park is easy to find.  Follow the signs toward Beaulieu from the M27 or Romsey, and the park is signposted from theA35.  The junction off the A35 to the Lyndhurst Road has just been rebuilt and it is now much easier to turn right towards Lyndhurst.  The park is on Deerleap Lane - the turning is also signposted for the Longdown Dairy Farm.  Continue past the church and the farm, and the park is on the left.

I last visited the Park on Monday 16th August 2004