Nature land Seal Sanctuary
North Parade
Skegness
Lincolnshire
PE25 1DB
01754 764345
We** visited Natureland Seal Sanctuary in March 2007 and spent a few hours enjoying what this Skegness attraction had to offer.
** Me, AKA Mum and our 2 sons aged 15 and 10 years old at the time of the visit to Nature land Seal Sanctuary.
I personally enjoyed Natureland Seal Sanctuary immensely which was a pleasant surprise, when we first decided to visit the seal sanctuary I assumed it would be an OK day out.
This type of attraction is usually more for the kids than adults, so didn’t hold out much hope that I’d have fun as well.
Fortunately I was wrong and really enjoyed our visit to Natureland. It was a peaceful, calm and a pleasant day out in Skegness.
Interesting Seal Fact The most common seal on our coastline is the Harbour Seal also known as the Common Seal. The largest single colony is in the Wash between Lincolnshire and Norfolk.
Found at the Northern end of Skegness seafront near the bowling greens, Nature Land is a Seal Sanctuary for rescued seals found off the Skegness East Coast (and surrounding coast line) so we got to see plenty of adult seals and even baby seals in the nursery. At feeding times you get to see the seals perform tricks and show off how smart they are, which was nice.
You get to ask the staff at Natureland questions about the seals at feeding time, which my kids enjoyed. They took it as a personal challenge to ask as many questions as they could :-)
Not Just Seals at a Seal Sanctuary you know :-)
I particularly liked the butterfly house with its exotic butterflies that flutter around you while you walk through.
The best for me though was the little quails that run free around the floor, they are so cute.
We spent quite some time in the tropical house just sitting amongst the beautiful plants, with birds and butterflies flying above our heads and the quail running around our feet.
Outside as well as the seals tank there are penguins, bunnies and tortoises to look at.
My kids got to feed the fish in the carp pool with fish food you can buy for 20p for a handful, (not good value) two ducks who had taken up residence on the pond got to eat most of it, but we didn’t mind (too much).
There are goats to feed with goat food that you can buy (30p a bag which was good value) in the gift shop, since it’s reasonably priced everyone can have a bag to feed the goats.
I got some lovely pictures of my kids feeding the goats which is a bonus for us parents, and there are wash basins nearby so you can wash off all that lovely goat slobber :-)
There’s a reptile house with crocodiles and a small aquarium.
Nature land isn’t very big, you could do every thing easily in an hour or two. But the atmosphere is so peaceful and calming I’m sure you’ll find, as I did you’ll spend a relaxing few hours just soaking up the tranquil surroundings while the kids enjoy learning about seals etc…
The only down side to Nature land IMO is there are no play facilities for kids or family games (which I personally prefer so I can play as well :-)). I think family games would be in keeping with NatureLand and give the Seal Sanctuary some staying power for family revisits, (beyond seeing the seals) which is what they need so they can keep up the good work of keeping the seals and the other animals at Nature Land protected for years to come.
We visited Drusilla Zoo in East Sussex once or twice a week when we used to live in the area and they had puzzles and games that didn’t take up much space. The games at Drusilla was mainly notice board activities like putting your hands in a hole to feel what bear skin felt like or a push button stop watch to see how long you could hold your breath compared to a otter, they also had funny photo boards the type you stick your head in and take a funny photograph of your self as a rabbit or gorilla.
Another place we visited (Wragby Maze) had a lot of garden games that kept the whole family happy for hours, surprisingly croquet was a family favourite. We all got a bad sunburn that day :-)
Nature land Seal Sanctuary Entrance Prices
Adults £6.20
OAP £5.00
Children £4.00
Children UNDER 3 Free
Family Ticket (2 adults and 2 children-under the age of 15) £18.40
Natureland also give concessions to special needs and students
Natureland Seal Sanctuary Opening Times
10 am – 4pm off season
10 am – 6pm high season
My verdict for Nature Land is 8.5 out of 10 stars.
Great day out in Skegness, well worth a visit.
Could be even better with some quizzes, garden games or interactive activities and events for returning visitors.
Other Natureland Information
Restaurant Facilities
We didn’t use Naturelands restaurant the Blue Lagoon, you can never be sure what your going to get in food/drink terms at an attraction so we always go well prepared with drinks and food.
For this reason can not comment on the quality of the food/service, only on what is on offer.
Spring/Summer (April – October) : sell hot and cold meals, drinks, sandwiches, ice creams, sweets etc.
Winter (November – March) : Hot and cold drinks and sweets.
Parking Facilities
There’s a small amount of road side parking across from Natureland, but in summer I expect this will be filled quickly. There’s a pay and display car park just North of Natureland that’s free in winter (100 meter walk, so not far).
Toilets
Toilets are spacious and very clean and I think they included baby changing facilities.
My husband is paralysed due to three strokes, and we don’t find very much available to disabled users. I was very pleasantly surprised to find that the seal sanctuary not only WELCOMED us but made sure we had a good time. Staff were kind, and helpful, answered my husbands very awkward questions in a very polite manner;- and didn’t seem nonplussed when he asked ‘do they ever feed live fish AFER CLOSING HOURS’! It was a genuine question as he was concerned about the seals re-learning to fend for themselves on release. IT WAS A VERY GOOD MORNINGS AMUSEMENT. We could have stayed much longer but for ‘medication’ being needed. There was a disabled loo, very good one at that,and even better there was SOME GLUTEN FREE FOODS FOR COELIACS! OK so it was basically the ‘usual’ stuff, but it was there. Some places don’t even have gluten free brands of crisps, sweets, or even a jacket potato or a meringue;- the basic gluten free standby foods. All in all the lady who gave it an 8 should maybe consider a rethink as it definitely deserves a 9.5 or even a very near ten out of ten! Yes she took children/teens. An awkward situation that mix of ages, but we also have grand kids, a wheelchair, and special diet needs to cope with and they made a good show of doing the best they can to make wheelchair users welcomed. RECOMMENDED.
Hi Joan Bennett,
I’m glad to hear you had a great time at Naturland. I read your post with interest, I could’nt include how Naturland cares for disabled visitors in my review so I appreciated your insight and experience of a day at Naturland. The reason I gave Naturland 8/10 was because as an attraction it lacks revisit power. Naturland is a great relaxing attraction but once you’ve been a couple of times it’s a little tedious and we have found our visits become shorter because there nothing new to keep use occupied. we go roughly once a year but would love to go more. It’s a shame Naturland does’nt have event days I feel they could bring in much more needed revenue if they did and make it an attraction with more revisit power. Hope this helps you to understand my reasoning for giving it 8/10. I wanted to give Naturland 9/10 originally but as a reviewer I have to take all apects of an attraction into acount.
Out of interest what was the answer to your husbands question regarding if they feed the seal live fish? I’d love to know the answer it’s a question my kids didn’t think to ask.
Marie
this was epic seals unite!
Went to Natureland last August 2010 ( been for last 3 years). As Im with my friend who is in a wheelchair we only go to places that we have “checked out” as “disabled friendly” first. Easy access to get in and get round . No problems with using the loo as they have disabled facilities. Really enjoyed the feeding time and my friends daughter who was 10 at the time loved the shop. Well worth a visit. Even in August high season it wasnt overcrowded and you got an excellent view of everything that was happening.
Will be visiting again in 2011! Brilliant!
My pal hilda and I always visit the sanctuary, a good time seeing the seals
and other animals,butterflies etc. I gather you can “adopt” one and this
must help with costs. The staff are great as is the shop. and restaurant.
Reccomend you visit the sanctuary.