I spent a good few hours here and I am not sure that I visited every area, I will have to go back at some point.
The zoo is a little bit out of the way, at least from the direction I was travelling but it is very well sign posted and there is plenty of car parking once you arrive.
There were 2 ticket windows open when I arrived and no queues. The adult ticket cost £17.95, a child's £12.95 and under 3's are free. There are concession rates for Senior Citizens and carers, also the winter admission prices are a little cheaper.
There are plenty of toilets, always important when you are visiting somewhere with children, and food outlets too.
The first animals you see on entry are painted camels, they are not real - obviously - but very striking. These camels were painted by local schools.
Next, there is a petting area with the fattest guinea pig I have ever seen, there are rabbits, goats and llamas too.
If you look closely, you can see that the llama at the back is sticking his tongue out.
From here on, you have several choices of direction to take, with many different animals to see.
All the animals seem very happy, with none of the distressing actions of those in European zoos, although this marmot made a break for freedom.
Marmots are burrowing creatures and they have dug holes under the fence of their enclosure, this cheeky chappie popped up out of a hole, looked around, decided he was better off inside and went back.
One of the lemurs was so bored with all the goings on that he fell asleep on the information sign.
And it was all too much for this meerkat who was also fast asleep.
Banham Zoo is home to 2 of the approximately 150 Suffolk Punch horses left in the UK, they are registered and used for breeding.
The giraffe enclosure is huge, their building has a first floor viewing platform, this can be reached by stairs, a long wooden sloped walkway or a lift.
There are so many animals and so many routes round that it would be impossible to mention them all here.
There are feeding talks and educational talks several times a day, some of the birds of prey are flown in display. You can book to hold a meerkat or fly a bird of prey, but there are additional charges associated with this activities.
You do have to leave via the gift shop, but where don't you? If you do need to leave and return to the zoo, you can stamp your hand to gain reentry.
It is definitely worth a visit.
I have accepted £100 from the booking agents, I have been trying to get my money refunded for nearly 4 months now and I have to accept that I have reached stalemate.
ABTA have been no help at all.
I looked into the small claims court, but it is too much to pay out to start proceedings, I am already a couple of hundred pounds down and I can't afford to pay out anymore.
Somewhere2Stay are still refusing to comment on, or even acknowledge, the month it took them to tell me that the Maritim had refused the booking.
As well as the difference in price between the hotels and the cost of eating out even though I had paid for an evening meal, there was the cost of a taxi to the airport from Calella, this cost €120. I had booked a return transfer and I received confirmation of the time of the return trip and pick up location.
For whatever reason, the time of the pick up was changed, the transfer company contacted all the hotels where pick ups had been arranged so that they could put signs up in the reception area noticeboard to notify the traveller. Unfortunately, as I had been moved, I did not receive any notification.
After waiting at the pick up point for an hour, I tried ringing the contact number on the booking confirmation, but there was no answer. I walked down to the train station and took a taxi.
I have calculated what the holiday cost me.
I expected to pay £510
I could have paid £420 had I booked the Santa Monica myself, choosing B&B and eating meals out.
I ended up paying £685.
(I laid all of this out in an excel spreadsheet but I couldn't post it to my blog!)
So lesson learnt, make sure the company you are ultimately booking with is reputable.
High Lodge is a fantastic place to visit, it is set in the beautiful Suffolk countryside, full details can be found here.
The site entrance fee is in the form of an hourly car park charge. Currently it is £2.10 per hour per car, with a maximum charge of £11, this can be paid on arrival to beat the queues at the end of the day. As today's cars can comfortably seat up to 7 people, this is very good value.
Minibuses and coaches have a fixed charge.
If you just want to walk around the grounds, or bring your own bikes, this is the only charge. Dogs are welcome but must be kept under control and cleaned up after.
And there is plenty to walk around. There are 4 marked walks, 3 starting from the main area and 1 starting within the forest, these are either 1.5km or 5km. You can also make your own route up.
There are 6 cycle trails too, upto 18km in length. Bike hire is available, adult hire is £8 for the first hour and £4 per hour after that (upto a maximum of £32 per day), child's hire is £7 for the first hour and £3 for any further hours (a maximum of £24 per day).
You can also hire child seats.
You cannot use disposable barbecues or open fires at High Lodge, but you can hire barbecues.
This year sees the Forestry Commission celebrating 15 years of the Gruffalo with sculpted Gruffalos at several country parks around the country, you can find a list here. And I found the Gruffalo!
I also found the fox, but don't know what he said.
In another part of the forest, there is a musical trail. Scaled up instruments made from wood and metal which you either hit or stand on to make music. Being alone I had great fun finding out what sounds each made.
There are plenty of things for children to climb on and swing from.
This was a giant seesaw, the signs said that only teamwork could make it work, however, I am ashamed to say that I managed to get it moving all by myself.
The morning I visited it was very misty, the mist and low cloud making a very quiet forest even quieter. Very Blair Witch in fact, for those of you remember the film, the mysterious and random stacks of logs adding to the atmosphere.
Or maybe Deliverance, with half built platforms.
But I loved every minute of it.
There is a cafe where I had a fantastic breakfast, there is plenty of seating both inside and out. There was also an eating area called the Pantry but this was closed when I visited as it was still early.
There are plenty of toilets.
Go Ape is available here too, I didn't try this out myself, but did enjoy watching others crossing wires and using death slides. The shouts and laughter of the Go Apers added to the spookiness of parts of the forest as you could hear them but not see them.
You can also hire Segways from Go Ape, but these are £35 per hour.
I would love to visit again, maybe next time I WILL hire a bike.
As you will recall I have been trying to have the difference in cost between the hotel I booked and the hotel I was actually accommodated in refunded by the travel company, this is for a holiday booked back in April of this year.
The latest reply from Somewhere2Stay, via Alpharooms, advises that they are not going to increase their existing offer of £50 and if I want more compensation then I should continue with my claim via a third party.
Very professional.
And is a refund of an overpaid amount really compensation? I don't think it is. Yes, I would like compensation, more for the fact that this has dragged on for so long, but primarily I am just trying to collect money owed.
I discovered this week, that Somewhere2Stay is a sister company of Monarch Airlines, and this really surprised me as Monarch have always been completely professional in all the dealings I have had with them, I think that for my next flight I will be returning to EasyJet even though that means a 2 hour journey to the airport instead of 20 minutes up the Birmingham road.
ABTA have been as helpful as the travel company so now I have contacted Watchdog to see if I get any joy there.
The only step I have left is the Small Claims Court.
I have just spent a weekend at this Haven site and it is fantastic. Fantastic to the point I have been looking into how much it would cost to buy a caravan here.
It is located just off the A548 and it is huge. The main building is a mile and a quarter from the entrance, driving up I did think I had missed a turning somewhere, but then the buildings appeared in the distance.
Check in was easy although the standard of accommodation I had booked meant that I couldn't actually get into my caravan until 4pm, but the more expensive the caravan, the earlier you get access.
In the main building you will find the pub - the Mash and Barrel (WiFi is available in the pub and on the terrace outside), the Carousel Bar and the Live Lounge, where the entertainment takes place. There is the usual amusement arcade, plus Burger King and Papa John Pizzas. As it was sunny, sitting on the terrace of the pub was fantastic.
There are two free to use cash machines in the main building.
Also in the main building, although only accessible from the outside, is the Cooks fish and chip shop.
Set slightly back from the main building is a large Spar shop. Refreshingly, having stayed on various holiday parks, the prices in the shop did not appear inflated.
There is another free to use cash machine at the side of the Spar.
Way back by the entrance, there is a further pub.
There is a leisure complex with an indoor pool, an outdoor pool which was closed as the main season had ended, a jungle gym and an indoor sports court.
Outside there is an aerial play area, think Go Ape but smaller, and a Go-Kart track. There is also archery, darts, pedal kart hire and bike hire. There are several play areas too.
Some of these activities are chargeable.
The bars are expensive, but that has been the same at every holiday camp I have visited, but offers are available which can work out better than buying one drink at a time.
I chose a Superior caravan, it was a Rio Mk III, and it was lovely. It was a 2 bedroom - one double and one twin - the seating in the living area could be converted to a further 2 beds. There was an en-suite toilet and washbasin in the double bedroom as well as the main shower/toilet room.
The gas hob/oven was twice the size as the one I have at home and there was plenty of seating and storage.
The numbering of the caravans was a little confusing, the park is split into areas which are all named and numbered. It took me a while to find my van, in the end I just parked the car in one of the many parking areas and walked around to find my van, it turns out that I was driving in circles around it.
Although I was quite a way from the main building, I was very close to a beach access, which was great although when the sea goes out here, it really goes out.
The only drawback was that toilet rolls were not supplied, so it was a quick dash to the Spar to get some!
I was here as part of a club weekend so had special rates, but I will definitely be coming back by myself and paying the full price (I paid per person, however standard rates are per van).
I had a reply from ABTA, eventually, advising me that they cannot intervene until I have reached stalemate with the holiday company, so that was a waste of a couple of weeks waiting. I will be going back to them shortly though as I do feel stalemate has now been reached.
I rejected the £50 goodwill offer made by the travel company as it goes nowhere near compensating me for the difference in price of the hotels, even ignoring all the additional issues.
I had asked the travel company to tell me when they actually sent my booking to the hotel. At the same time I contacted the hotel to ask the same question.
The travel company have refused to tell me, however the hotel have replied that they received the booking on the 13th May and refused it straight away as they were fully booked. I have now contacted the travel company to ask why it took a full month for them to notify me of the hotel move.
Given a month, I could have cancelled and made other arrangements. - including booking the Santa Monica myself for half the price that I had paid for the Maritim. I wouldn't be having this fight to get my money back then.
The tmeline currently stands as
- 20/04/14 - Accommodation at the Maritim booked and deposit paid.
- 05/05/14 - Outstanding balance of accommodation paid
- 13/05/14 - Booking sent to hotel and immediately rejected.
- 13/06/14 - Notified of hotel move
- 14/06/14 - Date of travel
- 21/06/14 - Date of return and complaint put into writing.
Once I get a response to this query I will be able to go back to ABTA.
Back in April I booked a holiday, travelling mid June. As you may recall less than 24 hours before I was due to travel I was moved to a cheaper hotel, still a 3* but much cheaper.
I complained at the time and certainly made my feelings felt, but as cancelling would have meant losing the flight, transfers, insurance and, more importantly, my week's annual leave I grudgingly accepted the move.
I was not happy with the quality of the hotel I was moved to. To put it bluntly, if it happens again, I will cancel and take the hit.
On my return, I put in a complaint to the agents, mostly because of the un-refunded difference in prices, but I included aspects of the hotel which I was not happy with.
Below are two screenshots of the relevant hotels, the departure date is the same for both, 3 weeks ahead, I do not have screen shots from the time of booking as I did not ever envisage needing them! But you can clearly see the difference.
I had booked the Maritim and was moved to the Santa Monica. I always select a double/twin for single use as single rooms everywhere abroad are notoriously tiny.
According to ABTA rules, travel agents have to respond to complaints within 28 days. Despite asking for more information to support my claim, (why, they moved me, they know the difference in price) the travel agents have failed to do this.
I have moved to the next level in my complaint, I have sent notice of my intention of going to ABTA, I just have to give more time for the agents to respond.
I will keep you informed.
Update
Today, 31st July, I had a reply from the travel agents, as it wasn't their fault I was moved, they were offering me £50 as a goodwill gesture.
As there is such a difference in price to the customer, I feel it is safe to assume that there is a corresponding difference in price to the travel agent, and therefore I should receive the full difference back, at least.
If there isn't a difference in price to the travel agent, then why is there such a disparity in price to the customer?
I have forwarded the offer on to ABTA for their consideration.
