We always find the best days out are free. Whenever, we spend money on a day out something goes wrong and one of our normally well behaved daughters shows off. This time it was Daisy who was monkeying around at the monkey forest last weekend. Somewhere we know to be a great day out. Don’t be fooled by her smiles, she was a nightmare. However, little did we know she would wake up the next day covered in a horrendous blistery rash which would turn out to be shingles and could perhaps explain her difficult behaviour:

Trentham Monkey Forest is a pretty magic place for kids and for adults too. It’s not the first time we have been. We went once when we had just Poppy and again when we had all three but Daisy was only three months old. It was lovely to go again with them all at the ages where they are really interested in nature and wildlife:

The monkey forest is set in beautiful Staffordshire woodland and you really are able to just wander amongst 140 Barbary macaques. Its pretty special. You are able to get up and personal with them, watch them being fed and just walk along the woodland trail. You can spend as long as you like inside the enclosure and go back in as many times as you like. There are also plenty of members of staff to answer any questions or give you little facts:

Today we learnt the oldest monkey is 31 years old, older than their expected lifetime of 21 in the wild and that the youngest ones are currently 9 months. It really was lovely. This Mum and baby were a highlight. They were so playful together even doing rolly pollys in front of us. It was very sweet:

The only thing that almost ruined it was Daisy behaviour. She’s usually very good when out and about but on this particular day she was so rude and grumpy. I was so embarrassed. At one point she rolled her eyes and said “I’m bored, can we go?” I wouldn’t have minded as much if it was as we were walking around by ourselves but no! It was during the feeding talk. I almost died of embarrassment as we never hear those words from our girls. She irritated and annoyed her sisters and me all the way there, during our visit and all the way home. She was generally a pain in the bottom and  It was exhausting.

Thank goodness we didn’t let it spoil our time though:

The monkey forest has grown since we last visited and now has two play areas instead of one. All three girls really enjoyed this bit:

A brilliant day out despite my grumpy five year olds efforts to spoil it:

Have you been?

Karen x

* Photo credit to my husband. My camera battery ran out and I had my hands full with a grumpy five year old