Kids in London - Battersea Dogs Home and Battersea Park Zoo

Now these were two firm faves when I grew up as a kid in London so on Saturday, despite desperately wanting to watch the rugby (my daughter doesn't do rugby) we set off for Battersea Park train station.

Well, even the train station caused great amusement - my daughter had never seen such an old fashioned station before and was very impressed with the brightly coloured columns - we spent a while just checking out the decor! It never ceases to amaze me quite what kids are interested in.

Anyway. I managed to persuade her to leave the station and we walked the short distance to Battersea Dog and Cats home. £1 for adults and 50p to follow the blue "visitors" footprints. Up to the highest levels to see the dogs in their very lovely homes being cared for by an army of really attentive kennel staff. You can imagine that some of the residents there have never had it so good!

We spent a while in Feline Street - where they keep the cats. It was lovely watching other visitors pet the cats that they just might take home. As we have four cats at home already I was on safe ground, but if you visit and you DON'T have a cat or a dog you might just get nagged a bit! Anyway, we chatted to lots of dogs as we wandered around. It was a bit sad that there were so many what appeared to be bull terrier or pit bull types, and not many of the sort of family Heinz 57s that you expect to see. There was an amazing Borzoi there - my daughter was fascinated by his dashing good Russian looks! Luckily, he had already found a home so I didn't get the droopy lip treatment...

We left. Without any animals. How did I achieve this? With the lure of MORE exciting creatures at Battersea Park zoo - that's how! And the recently refurbished zoo did not disappoint.

But as we walked towards the park, we glimpsed the Power Station and I forgot that she had not seen it that close before. Another major excitement on her day out!

The entrance fee at the zoo was £6.50 for adults and £4.95 for kids but under twos get in free. And there were lots there enjoying the buggy-friendly environment.

We talked to the Miner birds (who said Hello and Bye Bye on demand). We watched the keeper take a bucket of food into the Lemurs - who then climbed on her back! You should have heard the kids squeal with delight at that. We heard a couple of otters calling out to the keepers to remind them that it was dinner time. We laughed til our sides ached when the kookaburras (Australian kingfishers - most kids will know the song!) made all their noise. We stopped at the cafe for coffee, cakes and hot chocolate - which were nice.

The meerkats were wonderful - housed in an enclosure where small people (and some brave big people) could travel through tunnels to pop up in the centre under a plastic dome. We loved the coatis too and watched them digging around for a while. There were lots of play areas and an educational walk to learn all about butterflies.

There was a braying donkey in with lots of goats and a shetland pony - who dutifully plodded over to anyone calling them from the fence. And in the mouse house we saw lots of different types of mice as well as some turtles and geckos (Why are they in a Mouse House mummy - there are no sensible answers to some questions). And there was even a lady in an area with a huge white rabbit that you could go and pet. Little girl heaven!

The two real stars of the show though were Spongbob the Spider Monkey - the one who was stolen from Chessington World of Adventures - he bounced up and down on his branch for ages (I didn't like to tell my daughter that this was probably a sign of aggression though!). The other real favourite was the baby ferrets who peered out of their box from behind their parents - lots of ooohhs and aaahhs there.

After a good long time in the zoo, we stretched our legs with a walk around the Peace Pagoda and a look down the river to see Battersea Bridge and to hear tales of when mummy was a little girl growing up not far away from there. Ok. Moving on. We looked at the information board to learn abou the life of Buddha too - except she told me that she had learned this at school anyway already. Silly Mummy!

We saw lots of people on bikes and the reclining bikes and in bikes with basket-like structures on the front in which there were small children and dogs and found out that these could be hired. We will return in the summer for this...

As we wandered out of the park we passed the Affordable Art Fair - where Mummy usually manages to get to visit without kids in tow each year. I could have swung a quick canter through - but we were both a bit tired after walking all day around the dogs home and the zoo so we gave it a miss.

Overall though, a pretty good day and I thoroughly recommend it as a day out with lots of fresh air and animals for those folk who have small people to entertain.

:) :wave: :biggrin: :hyper: (Wish there was a picture with a lemur!)