Combe Martin Wildlife and dinosaur park

We visited this park without high expectations as there was a lot of hype in the adverts round about. Also our kids are older (10 and 12) so I doubted if animated dinosaurs would hold their attention. However it proved to be a great day out. We were there in late June when the weather was fairly changeable so it wasn’t busy at all.
The park itself is very well laid out making for a very pleasant walk round. The range of animals on display was more extensive than we expected and all the animals appeared to be in very good health. We especially like the meerkats, the racoons, the falconry and of course the wolves with the wolf man himself. However to be fair to the park all the staff were very knowledgeable and quite happy to spend time answering questions.
Congratulations too for above average catering. There is a deli bar serving freshly prepared paninis etc. and a restaurant with nice selection of options from the ubiquitous cornish pasty to a very tasty bacon, brie and cranberry baguette. Prices were very reasonable.

I’ve given three stars but if my kids were writing they’d probably give it five! All kids seem to go through a dinosaur stage and that’s why we went and the animatronic dinosaurs were good, but don’t hold interest for too long. Aside from them there’s an odd mix of activities, entertainments and animals. The sealion show was decent but the highlight was the wolves. Unlike the previous reviews we were lucky enough to have Shaun Ellis do the talk and he was excellent and we all felt we’d learned so much and he really changed our understanding of wolves. My son became wolf mad as a result, buying wolf T shirts and blankets etc. The falconry display and talk was also good. The entertainments of the pharoahs tomb, earthquake train and ‘into the light’ were better than I’d expected, but I didn’t have very high expectations from such a quirky little place. It does add up to a decent day out if you are in the area, but not a special trip just to go there I don’t think (though the boys disagree!)

The wildlife and dinosaur park was great fun and kids would love it! The dinosaurs consist of a garden with model dinosaurs but every hour on the hour they come to life and start moving and making noises which the kids seemed to live there was also a tape recording telling you about each of the recordings.
There is a light show which is a space shuttle trip which is a bit disappointing as over so quickly but a fun and different thing to over. There is also pharohs tomb which is quite different with talking mummys etc.
The wildlife itself is great there are lions, monkeys, lemurs, seals, penguins, wolfs and many more. They are quirte spaced around the park and so there is a lot of walking.
I have to admit to being disappointed that the wolf talk was not by Shaun the wolf man but by some woman who I have to admit was knowledgeable. The lemurs were great and if you attended the afternoon talk there was an opportunity to go into the cage with them to feed them which was great.
Would highly recommend the place for a visit especially if you have kids.

One word sums up our visit to this much hyped attraction — disappointment. The place is really advertised well locally and on the net — so we went full of anticipation — and saved it till the last day of our hols as a finale.
My son is mad on dinosaurs (show me a 6 yr old boy who isn’t!!) and so he was really excited and hubby was intrigued to see the’Wolf man’ Shaun Ellis who lived with and befriended the wolves and who does daily ‘howling’ shows at this venue.
When we got there the parking was a nightmare and left us a long way to walk to get actually in to the park — which was fine that’s Devon– but easily avoided with better planning. Strike one!
The dinosaurs consisted of about 5 models set in breathtaking realistic gardens — but they did nothing and the accompanying signs gave very little info of substance. Further round the park later we did find a small museum which had dinosaur fossils and eggs which was quite interesting, and a couple of amimatronic models which were reasonably entertaining — but not anywhere near enough to warrant calling the place a dinosaur park… strike two!
We looked carefully on the guides to find out what time the ‘Shaun Ellis’ talk begun and made our way there 15 mins early to get a good seat at the front. only to find out that contrary to the posters and adverts Shaun was in fact not there but away filming in Poland! Not happy bunnies — I felt really sorry for the lovely woman who had to do the talk in his place she really got some stick from the crowd — alot of who, had travelled a diatance and paid entrance fee really to see ‘The wolfman’ only. Strike three!
All this said it was still a generally good day out — the other wildlife on show was fascinating. The Meer cats especially were hilarious — and all the staff that handled the animals and gave the talks seemed both dedicate and knowledgeable. The highlight for me was the wallabies roaming wild that you could hand feed — gorgeous. There were various small scale kids rides which were ok, and amusements along with the usual cafes etc,.and an indoor section where you could do brass rubbings. The oriental gardens were also very beautiful.
It was possible to go swimming with Sea Lions if you booked in advance — however we were unaware and had no kit with us. Sounds like it could be fun?!
Over all I have given a 3 mainly due to the false advertising — I guess if you had stumbled across this place accidentally and had no expectations you may rate it higher. I would say more for younger children who will love the small animals.