Chester Zoo, in Chester, Cheshire is one place we’ve been meaning to go for a long time. In Summer 2019 we acheived it! We were staying at Delamere Forest camping and caravan club site, and Chester Zoo is approximately a 30 minute drive away.
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In August 2019, we stayed at Delamere Forest Camping & Caravanning Club Site, supported by the Camping & Caravanning Club of which we are press members.
We had a good few days. Our holiday was sandwiched between the July heatwave and the August storms. We had a couple of nights which were a bit blustery and we woke up to a partially flooded pitch on our last morning, but we got away with the worst of the weather.
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Delamere Forest camp site is adjacent to Delamere Forest in Cheshire. The Forestry Commission manages the 972 hectares of woodland which is good for walking and cycling. There are six car parks, and a train station right next door to the camp site, which is handy!
The camp site is adjacent to the forest rather than in it. It is a fairly typical Camping & Caravanning Club Site; not too flashy, well maintained, and run by a friendly and helpful team.
There isn’t much at the site. There is….
….and that’s about it. There is no park, but the girls did find some very good rope swings a short walk from behind our pitch, which got a lot of use!
The fish and chip van calls on a Friday. There is also an entertaining site cat called DelBoy who likes attention but will let you know if you give him too much – top tip, wear trousers.
The site has an 11pm to 7am curfew when the site gates are also locked to cars. While the site gets some noise from the nearby road, railway line, and the occasional plane, there was no noise from the site itself once 11pm came around. We have found that Camping & Caravanning Club Sites tend to have well-behaved guests who appreciate the value of sleep, and Delamere Forest is no exception.
The Wi-Fi wasn’t the best, either getting on it or getting any decent speeds, but I did get a very strong mobile signal all week, which I wasn’t relying on before I got there.
We stayed on a grass pitch with EHU. It did get boggy on our last night but then we had got a lot of rain overnight. To be fair, it did look the worst pitch on the entire site that day, so I wouldn’t say that Delamere Forest camp site has a significant waterlogging problem.
There is a mix of grass and hard-standing pitches, and EHU and non-EHU pitches. In total, there are about 40 pitches. If you want less noise, ask for a site away from the busy road, though this might put you in closer proximity to the railway line – where the trains stop about midnight.
We found our pitch to be a good size, level, and not too springy considering the rain we had in the UK throughout July. Our pitch was quite far from our electric point so we borrowed an extension lead from the site for £10 refundable deposit. Pitches were a nice distance from the neighbours and there was room to put the car next to the tent.
There is lots to do at and from Delamere Forest Camping & Caravanning Club Site…….
The main things to do are a lot of walking and cycling. There are two gates from the campsite with direct pedestrian access to the forest. Here we found some rope swings.
There is also a Gruffalo trail. We did find the starting point for this, which is a short walk from the Go Ape! cabin.
A little further down and you get to Go Ape! We love Go Ape! and have done the course at Dalby Forest in Yorkshire a couple of times – both the full and the junior versions. We also tried out the Delamere Forest Go Ape! and both courses here got the thumbs up. I can state that the senior version is much higher and more challenging than the Dalby Forest one, but I didn’t cry once. It was hard work and I was fully prepared not to be able to walk the day after, but I did OK on that front. This is a great experience for 2 – 3 hours and is recommended for anyone that likes a challenge.
From the Train Station right next door (go out the main gates, down the road for about 200 yards, and then you’re there!) you can get trains to Chester or Manchester.
The trains are fairly frequent and run til quite late. We decided to go to Rhyl for the day, which was about 90 minutes from Delamere, including the change at Chester. Chester itself looks worth a visit and we will definitely be visiting there on a future trip.
Cheshire Oaks is a huge outdoor shopping village adjacent to The Coliseum, an entertainments park. We went one day here as the teen was booked onto a movie at Vue she absolutely HAD to see. Me and the tween went around the shops, and there was more than enough to keep us occupied, including the Cadbury and Lindt outlets, an M&S outlet, and The Works. We lunched at Wagamamas.
Free all day parking, and very easy to find. This is about 20 – 30 minutes drive from Delamere Forest.
The twins wanted to do a return visit to Gulliver’s World. They had been with grandma last year and loved it. So while me and the girls shopped and lunched in Cheshire Oaks, the twins took Dad to Gulliver’s. They had another good day despite some heavy showers. It’s about a 30 – 40 minute drive from Delamere Forest. Have you been to Gulliver’s World?
We have all been wanting to do Chester Zoo for a long time so we took the opportunity to go while we were at Delamere Forest. It’s about 25 – 30 minute drive from Delamere Forest.
Chester Zoo is huge! It felt a lot bigger than other zoos we’ve visited, and it was a superb value day. We were there from 11am until about 5pm and saw soooo many animals. We took a picnic to save some cash and there were lots of places to eat.
Check out my Top Tips for Visiting Chester Zoo
We like the site. It’s clean, quiet, and family-friendly. There isn’t much to do on the site itself but there were lots of other families there and the younger girls soon made some friends to play with.
We loved the wildlife – there was a good variety of birds and also some fairly tame rabbits which came out at dusk to eat the grass around the tents
It’s a good base for exploring Cheshire and there are some good local attractions. We would definitely use the site on future trips to the area.
Disclosure – we were guests of The Camping & Caravanning Club. All opinion is our own.
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