We visited the Telford zoo named second best in the country and found a place striving to be different

2024 is the second year in a row that the Telford-based zoo has hit second place on the UK travel charts based on millions of online reviews.

Drawing more than 4,000 'excellent' ratings, Hoo Zoo has also been revealed as the ninth-best zoo or aquarium to visit in Europe.

Parter, Will Dorrell, whose parents opened the then Hoo Farm back in 1991, said it "didn't feel real".

"We're delighted," he said, "we're only a small place in the middle of Telford, and to feel that we've been acknowledged by TripAdvisor as one of the best is incredible.

"Back in the 90s when we started the drive was always to just create something people in the local area want to come to and want to enjoy - so the fact we're recognised all round the country and get visitors from all over is insane really."

When Will was asked why the animal park was so beloved by reviewers, he said they were proud to be keeping things down to earth.

"We try to be different. We've tried to be unique ever since we started with things like sheep racing and stuff like that, we've always tried to try to do things differently and we've stayed away from the sort of corporate and commercial side of things - being down to earth.

"As a lot of our Tripadvisor reviews say, we're rustic and family-friendly. We keep that family-run approach as much as possible."

And family run it is - Will, and his wife Becky, are following in his parents' footprints, and are now raising their two children on-site at the zoo.

"[My parents] came from a dairy and farming background, at the time there was a bit of a push for a farm park in Telford and they jumped on the back of that and developed here.

"Hoo Farm had been here as a bit of a tree plantation, they moved in and turned it into a farm park and we've expanded since.

"I came into the business back in the late 2000s having grown up, literally, in the business all the way along. Ever since, my wife and I have pushed it more down the zoo route.

"We're on the third generation now, I don't think they [his children] realise the mental-ness of what they've been born into - but they love it.

"They take it for granted a little bit, we have to point out that it's not normal that you can just walk down and go see 'your dinosaurs' as my son tries to put it."

Among those visiting the zoo on Friday, were Zoe and Stuart Hill and their two children. The Dudley couple were supposed to be going to West Midlands Safari Park but had decided to venture a little further afield for the Telford zoo.

"I like it because it's all outdoors," Zoe explained. "When the weather's nice it's nice to see lots of different animals and there's the play areas - which is really good for these two because they don't want to sit still for very long."

Emma Marshall had travelled in from Market Drayton with her family for the day.

"I used to come when my children were really small, and now I've got a little granddaughter with the child that I used to bring up here when she was small," she said. "It's nice to come and reminisce."

Suzanne Biggs hadn't come quite so far with her daughter, Eivor - having only travelled in from Donnington. She said the closeness of the park and the affordability has kept her coming back for many years.

"There's always something new to come and visit," she added.