Tilgate Park

16/10/2026

📢 Tilgate Car Boot Sales Update

We wanted to let everyone know that there will be no car boot sales taking place at Tilgate for the remainder of this year.

We're currently working on plans and hope to welcome our car boots back early next year. We'll share updates and dates as soon as they're confirmed.

Thank you for your continued support, and we look forward to seeing you again soon!

11/10/2026

We weren't complete 'TILL we met you!
Do you have till experience? We would love to hear from you, as we are looking to expand our retail team in our Zoo Gift shop!
If you have great customer service skills, till experience and are looking for something to supplement your income with particularly weekend and school holiday hours, then please send your CV and cover letter to [email protected].
Please note that applicants must be aged 18 or over! We look forward to hearing from you!

10/10/2026

🍂 As the leaves turn, how about one final splash of green? 🍃

Viridios, our green tree monitor, is adapted for the verdant forests of Papua New Guinea, where the warm, humid climate keeps the leaves lush and green year round. His pattern is perfect camouflage and the perfect counterpoint to the yellows and oranges and reds slowly enveloping the trees out in the park. Why not come and see him and say farewell to the summer in the warmth of our reptile house?

📷 Lead keeper El

06/10/2026

Back by popular demand are our wreath making workshops!

Join us on 11th and 12th December at 7pm for a wonderful workshop where you'll learn how to make your own Christmas wreath. All tools and tuition are provided, as well and some refreshments, and you'll leave with a beautiful wreath with foliage that has been foraged right here at Tilgate Park!

Tickets are £50pp and are available at https://orlo.uk/dCKlT

05/10/2026

It's been a beautiful sunny day today and the animals have been making the most of it before it becomes too autumnal!

Here's serval Zuri out in her paddock, enjoying the warm sunshine...and looking to see if the zookeepers are on their way with her lunch! Zuri didn't want to waste the sunshine and ate her lunch outdoors right in the middle of her paddock so that our visitors could enjoy watching her tuck in, and then like any self-respecting cat, she had a long snooze in the sun once she'd finished!

We're open every day 10am - 6pm with last entry at 5pm, so why not come and see Zuri having another picnic one sunny day soon?

📸 Education Officer Holly

04/10/2026

It's International Zookeeper Day!
As we do every October 4th, today we recognise the tireless work of our keeping team. It's not always a glamorous job and it's definitely not easy, but it's certainly a varied one! A keeper's tasks for the day can include cleaning, mucking out, gardening, preparing food, training, medicating, weighing, observing, researching, maintaining, fixing, teaching, record keeping and a LOT of time on your feet! But sometimes, occasionally, their walking up and down (and again up and down) the hill of Tilgate Zoo has company! Keeper Josie here is taking Max the alpaca for a walk for some head-collar training. Being able to calmly walk the alpacas to and fro helps with all kinds of activities - moving them between paddocks, taking them to be weighed or looked at by the vet and facilitating shearing their wool to name a few. Max is a very headstrong (and everything-else strong!) individual, but keepers like Josie have special bond with him and the training exercise becomes a relaxing stroll. How lovely! Thank you to Josie and to ALL of our fantastic keeping staff who do a great job the whole year long!

📷 Keeper Chloe

03/10/2026

'It's October 3rd,' goes the famous line; that makes it 'Mean Girls Day', so we thought we should wear pink!
The iconic and quotable movie is synonymous with the colour of our galah's plumage and don't they look beautiful!? Okay, yes, you worked it out, we just wanted an excuse to post a photo of these gorgeous parrots, but can you blame us? While many parrots have bright coloured feathers, galahs are famous for being pretty in pink. Galahs actually get brighter as they get older too, so as this year's chicks grow up expect our puce parrot parade to get even brighter!

📷 Keeper Josie

29/09/2026

Tickets for both our Christmas experiences - Storytime with Santa and Santa's Grotto - are now LIVE over at https://orlo.uk/JYsmm

Tilgate Park's Magical Christmas returns on 5/6, 12/13, 19-23 December and is set to be our biggest and best yet! The elves have already started stocking the shelves with a whole range of amazing soft toys and we've just received mail from Santa to let us know he's polished his boots and cleaned his glasses ready to welcome you all again.

Tickets are expected to sell out quickly, and once they're gone, they're gone - so be sure to book your slot today.

Both experiences allow the children to meet Santa, receive a gift (a soft toy of their choice) and give a £1 entry to Tilgate Zoo until February 2027.

We look forward to seeing you all again soon!

28/09/2026

Following yesterday’s water issues in the local area, we’re pleased to confirm that Tilgate Zoo is open today from 10am–6pm.

You can pre-book your tickets at https://orlo.uk/NfCSe

While you're at it, why not have a look at some of our incredible animal experiences?

We have animals of all shapes and sizes, from all over the world. With our animal experiences Have you ever wanted to.. Meet the meerkats? Give a lemur its lunch? Hang out with a capybara? Feed an armadillo? Or maybe see some scales and shells up close? We have fantastic animal experiences for anyon...

26/09/2026

We just heard some squeaky shoes outside the zoo and caught a couple of elves sneaking in to start getting this year’s toys ready for Santa’s Grotto and Story Time with Santa!

They’ve brought a brilliant selection of gifts with them, and we think Santa’s story this year might feature some very special new arrivals from the zoo… any guesses which animals inspired him?

Tickets for Story Time with Santa are live NOW and tickets for Santa's Grotto will go live at 9am on Monday (28 September). Be quick as we expect both experiences to sell out very quickly.

There's loads more happening at Tilgate Park's Magical Christmas - be sure to keep an eye on our socials in the lead up to Christmas! The event is free to enter and runs on the 5, 6, 12, 13, and 19 - 23 December from 10am-6pm.