On our way to Coombe Mill to celebrate Tilda’s birthday and scatter her ashes we spent a wonderful day at Longleat.

David and I have been to Longleat before in our pre children days and we knew that it was somewhere special that we would like to take our children one day.

Today was that day.

The first of many days actually.

We have decided to return to Coombe Mill every year for Baby Tilda’s birthday and on the way to stop at Longleat.

Though next time I think we may have to figure out new sleeping arrangments, as the four of us in one room did not work out that well!

The day at Longleat however was more than worth it.

All four of us loved it and we truly cannot wait to go back.

When we arrived at Longleat we parked at The African Village. We had been in the car for a long time and so it was good to get out and stretch our legs. We were able to go to the loo and have a stretch and grab a coffee. Oh, and feed the giraffes!!

I think many readers will know that I adore giraffes. David and I have fed giraffes before (again pre children) but it was a wonderful new experience for Esther and William. To get so close to these beautiful, graceful giants was just magical. Those thick eyelashes and sharp black tongues are even more awesome up close and personal.

Esther and William thought these few moments were amazing and they were right, they were.

They were also rather expensive moments as the giraffes eat lettuce leaves that you must buy at Longleat for £1 a leaf. We thought this was quite expensive considering the price of entry to the safari park and estate, yet it was still an opportunity that was just too good to be missed. And will we pay our pounds next year? Most certainly!

After feeding the giraffes Daddy and William went up to explore the rope bridge but Esther was not so sure. Just as the heavens opened we made our way into the cafe for a drink and a snack. Coffee and cake with a view of a herd of giraffes. Just perfect!

There was much more to explore at The African Village, I would have loved to walk with the lemurs but we were keen to get back in the car and start our safari drive.

If you are going to Longleat and plan to drive through the safari park, I would advise you to do it with much more petrol than we did to ensure that you can relax and enjoy the experience with your engine on at all times, rather than rolling down every hill and slope you can find!!

Actually the lack of petrol added to the experience, though we will not repeat this addition next year!

But this year the drive was just stunning. All the animals were out and we were able to get really close to species that Esther and William had only ever seen in books or on television. Watching their faces was almost as exciting as observing the animals.

For us, and particularly for Esther and William the highlight was the monkeys. We spent so long in there and Esther and William were just giggling and laughing and screaming the whole time. They thought it was wonderful to have monkeys climbing all over the car, sitting on the windscreen, sliding down the roof box. They thought it was hilarious. And as they laughed so we laughed. It was good therapy for us all I think and we know that Tilda would have been laughing too. She would have loved those funny monkeys. Esther and William still talk about the monkeys now and fondly remember them, particularly the one that pooed on the car, all down William’s window. How we laughed!

After driving through the rest of the safari and coming very close to rhinos and wolves we headed for the rest of the estate.

Esther and William needed some food and a run around. Or so I thought!

When we got out of the car and entered the park the first thing that William saw … was the train!

And we were off … Toot, Toot!

We agreed to go on the train early as we knew that our engine mad toddlers would want at least one more go before the end of the day.

The train was lovely with an authentic railway station and lots to see along the track. William thought it was wonderful!

After the train we got the Twin’s Toddlebikes from the car to encourage them to do some walking.

They loved biking round the park and stopping and sitting to look at the animals.

We had lunch at The Orangery which was really nice and a lovely lady waitress gave Esther and William an animal mask each which they liked very much.

We loved walking through the Monkey Temple and Jungle Kingdom.

Esther and William loved the meerkats and I fell in love with a little red panda. So cute!

We watched the meerkats playing for a long time and then we headed to Meet the Animals.

Esther and William sat on their Toddlebikes and chatted to the giant rabbits. They looked for guinea pigs in the guinea pig village and then bravely, oh so bravely, they each held a spider and stroked a snake. What wonderful experiences for two year old twins. They though it was magnificent. Moments that will stay with us all for a very long time.

After the arachnid we headed to the play areas. There were lots of different play houses to explore, a pink and purple soft play tent (Matilda Mae!) and lots of very long slides!

Esther and William ran around and let off lots of steam. They both loved the splash pad water play area. They had great fun exploring all the different ways to adventure and play. I think Daddy quite like the soft play too!

There is so much to see and do at Longleat that even though we got there quite early we were still not able to see nearly everything. We did not have time to go on the Jungle Cruise which I definitely want to do next year. There will also be penguins next year!! I am very excited about that.

This year we finished our day with another ride on the train and then a play in the Hall of Mirrors. This was great fun, rather baffling, but great fun and fabulous for photos!

So this was our day at Longleat.

We arrived at snack time and stretched our legs exploring the African Village.

Next year I think we would aim to arrive a little earlier, still stretch our legs and explore but then have our snack back in the car.

Driving through the safari is a must. Esther and William are only 33 months and they really did enjoy it, especially those naughty monkeys!

The train is fabulous and another way to have a snack on the go.

Next year we will be taking much more of a picnic as we found the food in the park to be quite expensive and not that toddler friendly.

Longleat is very double buggy friendly and has baby change facilities that are well looked after.

I am so sad that we missed the boat (Jungle Cruise) and so we will definitely include that in our plan for next year as well as the brand new Penguin Island.

A day at Longleat is an action packed adventure day, give yourself plenty of time to experience all the magic that it has to offer.

This was a wonderful day out for Esther and William and the perfect tonic for us as we try to rebuild our family and find a new sense of normal. It really is not very easy to do.

But experiences like this make it easier as we realise that our two adorable twins still need us so much and despite all the pain they still see beauty and good in everything they do. That is something I want to continue for as long as possible while ensuring that they remember their sister, Baby Tiger, Matilda Mae.

We were give free entry to Longleat in return for an honest review of our day.