Wild Wonders brings free animal encounters to Priory Park, Bodmin

School holidays can start to feel long by the second week of August, so the timing of this one is kind. For one Saturday, a Bodmin park turns into a place where you can watch a snake curl around a keeper’s arm, meet a hawk-moth up close and bounce off the last of your energy on a giraffe-shaped inflatable, all without spending a penny to get in.

Wild Wonders lands at Priory Park on Saturday 8 August, running from 11am to 3pm. It is the latest date in Bodmin Town Council’s free summer events programme, badged under the Love Our Bodmin banner, and it is built around one simple idea: bring the whole family, get close to some remarkable animals and pay nothing for the privilege.

📷Credit: Bodmin Town Council

A free wildlife day out in Priory Park

Everything about the day is free. Free entry, free parking and a run of activities aimed squarely at families with children who have plenty to burn off. The council is billing it as a chance to meet, learn and engage, with wildlife at the centre and treats around the edges.

Priory Park sits a short walk from the town centre, and the event fills the open grass with stalls, inflatables and animal displays through the middle of the day. Turn up any time between 11am and 3pm and there will be something on.

📷Credit: Bodmin Town Council

Wild Science workshops and Mark’s Ark encounters

Two animal specialists anchor the programme. Wild Science is running hands-on workshops in three slots across the day, at 11am to 12.30pm, 12.45pm to 1.45pm and 2pm to 3pm, so there is more than one chance to catch a session.

Alongside them, Mark’s Ark Wildlife Encounters will be on site throughout, bringing a variety of reptiles and animals for people to get up close to. Expect the kind of creatures that make children lean in and grown-ups take a small step back.

Inflatables, cakes and Cornish ice cream

Not everyone comes for the reptiles. There are free children’s inflatables to keep younger visitors busy, coffee and cakes from Isabelle’s for the grown-ups, and Kelly’s Whip ice cream for whoever gets there first on a warm afternoon.

It is the sort of low-key, hands-on day that works whether you stay for ten minutes or the full four hours.

📷Credit: Bodmin Town Council

Free entry, free parking

There is no ticket to book and no charge to park. Priory Car Park is free all day on Saturday 8 August, for everyone, which takes the usual sting out of a family trip into town.

Wild Wonders is one of several free events Bodmin Town Council is putting on across the summer, so if this one clashes with your weekend, it is worth keeping an eye on what comes next.

📷Credit: Bodmin Town Council

📷Credit: Bodmin Town Council