On Tuesday our brave Little Big One made her first acquaintance with a reptile. Not just any old reptile. A python, no less. She actually held the python in her tiny hands (albeit with a trained animal handler holding her hands to take the weight. It was her hands that were making contact though). Oh and she stroked a bearded dragon (so did the Not So Tiny One, though she’s never really one to pass up on the chance to do something daring).

This all happened at Hestercombe gardens near Taunton. A lovely place at the best of times, I’m sure, but a great place to visit in the school holidays. Their summer programme is fabulous! We visited on one of their Terrific Tuesdays and had the joy of attending a Really Wild Show where we were acquainted with the aforementioned beasts. The show brought us face to face with some very curious creatures – as well as the python and bearded dragon, we met a lizard that can lick it’s own eyeball and a tarantula. The show was fascinating, fun and very informative (the Really Wild Learning team do birthday parties by the way).

After the show we wandered over to the Orangerie where there were more animals for us to meet – three lovely alpacas. Freshly confident from her heroics with the snake, the Little Big One hand fed one particularly hungry alpaca and we petted them for a while. Personally this was more up my street than the reptiles, but of course, I didn’t let on!

The Orangerie was also host to some arts and crafts activities, all with an animal theme. We made a paper chain snake (easier to handle than the real thing) and a floaty fish wand.

Once our activities were complete the girls whiled away a big chunk of time in the little play park – accessible without a ticket (it’s just before the main entrance). There’s a picnic area here too, although it’s not covered (which isn’t ideal in the rain, as we found out). Annoyingly you’re not allowed to eat picnics in the gardens (I can only assume this is because of concerns over littering) so this designated picnic spot is the only place you can (openly) eat your own food. The cafe serves a great hot chocolate though.

As we were busy enjoying all the fun that was laid on, it didn’t leave us with much time to enjoy the rest of the gardens, aside from a very quick peak at the formal garden (which isn’t accessible by pram, unfortunately. Too many steps). This seems to be a recurrent theme here at Hestercombe – lots of steps and uneven ground makes using a pram a little tricky. However, the Georgian landscaped gardens do look beautiful with many attractions to see including a waterfall, a Chinese bridge, a mill pond and a watermill. The mill pond and watermill can be seen from the accessible route which is marked on the visitor’s map. But many of the other attractions, including the waterfall, are harder to get to so next time I’m taking a backpack carrier for the little ones so that we can enjoy the full tour.

I would certainly suggest visiting in the holidays if you can – Terrific Tuesdays are on for the rest of August with the timetable as follows:

But at £6.25 for a Bishop’s Palace member adult ticket (as a partner garden, BP members receive half price entry – it works the other way too), I’ll definitely be returning outside of the school holidays. Kids under 5 go free.

If this smiley hot chocolate face doesn’t sell it to you, I don’t know what will…