I visited this zoo on a work holiday as I support people with disabilities. Walking around this unkept zoo made me wanted to cry. The animals are bored and have no stimulation. It’s like a prison and is so depressing. I’m shocked that this is allowed to stay open and the animals are being treated this way. The sea lions in particular have the smallest enclosure for such an active and large species. They are made to perform unnatural tricks for their dinner which the audience is told is for their benefit. If this zoo meets ‘regulations’ then the regulations need to be reviewed and we need to do better for them. I will not be going back and will look into making further complaints as I can’t sit back and do nothing for these poor animals who deserve better.

We had looked online, before arriving on our holiday for coombe martin, seeing what attractions were in the immediate area, and looking at the park agreeing to go there as it looked good for our family of seven, how wrong we were! The park is very run down and some of the animals of which are very few, looked miserable, the female cornball the Hudson bay wolves the Lions lacked no stimulation, and we hated seeing these like this.The reptile house was a joke with a few commonly kept pet species on show, the bug house was the worse with dead commonuk garden species as a example of a spider with poor labelling and non interesting species, this with some imagination could have been interesting.We sat down to have our picnic with other families doing the same and was asked to move as this was for paying customers to the restaurant, we went to the indoor play area and disgusted with the very rude older female staff member with glasses who was very abrupt and unwelcoming, we as a family will never go to this park again and will advise friends and family the same as it was a very pricey mistake.

I have visited many attractions around the country but have never written an adverse review before. The 'Park' is so bad it would take pages to list every problem.
It is probably sufficient to say it is a total rip-off, and I would rate it as the worst 'attraction' in the UK!

Very expensive for what you receive, a substandard theme park with no apparent theme. The animals are not exotic though are cared for well and the only redeeming feature. If the world was ended by zombies tomorrow and this dinosaur park was the last sanctuary I would need to be drugged with milk or taken by force.

From the moment you arive by car you get a feel for the place. a massive hill is your first hurdle, and not your last.

The wolf area. Whats the point of a viewing platform if its positions / build is in such a away that absolutley no one could see the wolves

The Dinosaur museaum. Its a Room about 12 Metres by 6. you would get better value going to Barnstaple and buying a book on Dinosaurs.

Recommended by Terry Nutkins. Well that just about says it all. I think he needs an eye check.

Over Priced, No entertainment, Not Child friendly as there are just to may hills. Disabled access. for get it.

I agree save your Money and go to Watermouth Castle.

Do Combe Martin a favour and close.

Very uninspired by the place, all looks good in theory but just doesn't work. Prices far to high, then once your through the gates you just keep in paying. Overheard a lot of other people voicing the exact same thing, maybe it's time the nods running the place took a little notice of sites like this before the word spreads any further. All the 'rides' are out of date, non of the staff look particularly happy to be there, the animals don't even seem to be bothered either. The queue for the light show was far more interesting than the actual show. This place will never be in the big league unless changes are made. Top tip.... Go to watermouth castle instead

What a con! Very clever advertising made this place seem a fantastic day out for everybody. What we found was very disappointing.

The animatronic dinosaurs were rubbish! Only 1 moved.

The Light Show was laughable. To sit for 10 minutes whilst some 'space-like' music played and a few lights flash on and off does not make a good show.

The Dinosaur 'Museum' was like visiting an old relatives front room. Small, smelly and a couple of old fossils.

The Pharoah's Tomb was laughable! If a person dressed as a Mummy hid and made you jump, this would as least make it entertaining.

I thought many of the animals were kept in small cages. Many of them looked rather bored/distressed.

Worse of all, you had to pay extra for children to pay in the Play Area! How they can get away with that I'll never know.

Toilets were not clean.

Generally a very disappointing place. We were there for about 3 hours and then left. A total waste of money.

What a waste of money, described as a wildlife/dinosaur park, but not really sure where the pharaohs tomb and light show fit in???? Dinosaurs really poor about 5 in a small area that on the hour spray water and make a noise!!! Whopeee!!! Spent £36.50 to get in and yet the brass rubbing, train ride and other amusements were extra. The birds near to the toilets were in a small cage and looked very sad for themselves. Missed the otters (not sure how??) the only thing we enjoyed was the sealion show featuring Morgan. Whilst in Devon we visited Exmoor Zoo brilliant and a fraction of the price !!! The leaflets make the place seem something that it is not!! Looks brilliant in the pictures.

ask about things to do for a disabled child and was given no help what so ever and the dinosaurs well DONT BLINK or you will miss them

Hideously overpriced, and on top of that train, brass rubbing etc was extra!!!!!
Dinosaur show was pathetic and only one an hour, animals looked uncared for and it was FULL of ridiously steep hills, not good for 3 year old and 7 month pregnant woman! No staff, and those we did encounter were incredibly unenthused, lack of faciliaties and those there were are in a poor state!

Absolute waste of money cost us £56.00 for 4 adults, my granddaughter was free, bonus.
5 dinosaurs which do something once an hour, we waited 20 minutes to see the "show" shouldn't have bothered.
Couldn't even see the lions, when we asked where they were we were told in the bottom field well out of sight.
The other animals, the few there are, looked in a poor state.
My advice would be don't waste your money or your time, complete waste of both.

Sad place if you are an animal as there seems to be no enrichment at all for them. Several enclosures too small for the animals. Lions and wolves seemed stressed as they are constantly pacing their enclosures, very dirty parrot cages without foom for the birds to stretch their wings.....maybe authorities should investigate into the welfare of the animals and birds kept here.

We also found Coombe Martin park very disapointing. The penguins were so depressed. they were in a dark and dirty pool and obviously waiting to be fed as were all the animals. There was obviously no 'enrichment' as they call it.
The lions were in a small cage and just pacing constantly. The meerkats were playing with rubbish and the sea lion was performing tricks for food.
Aside from the animals, the park advertises other attractions like a dinosaur museum and an Egytptian tomb - both just plain odd - expect a lot of paper mache. It was £12 each for the day and the 'light show' and 'falconry show' were not on. All in all, not a great day and I'm still wishing I had brought some of those penguins home with me. I think I could do a better job of looking after them.

We found combe martin dinosaur park very upsetting,three beautiful lions spent their days pacing their small enclosure, wolves were fenced in small enclosures and were obviously tame which made it all the more sadder, racoons were in a very small enclosure trying to climb a wall to freedom, and the meercats just huddled together, one meercat was separated from the others and when I asked why we were told he had been handled by humans too much so the other meercats would attack him. These animals should be in their natural habitats not caged for our entertainment, these places are outdated, I felt so sorry for the animals for what had become of them, but I feel more sorry for people that visit these places, they surely lack compassion and humanity but most of all common sense!

first the good bits of Combe Martin Wildlife & Dinosaur Park - the sealion show was fantastic and the animals we actually got to see were in decent enclosures. now for the not so good - the entrance is a steep incline which tails back about 5 cars before you find yourself queuing on the main road. our clutch started to smoke (so did about 2 other cars ) and i started to panic, when we got to a parking spot the attendant had heard it all before and confirmed that many people suffer the same fate as the entrance is badly positioned. then we attempted to scale the extreme slope to get into the place which unnerved my elderly mother more so the realization she would have to try to get back up later on - little did we know the whole park suffers from this problem, DO NOT BOTHER GOING IF YOU HAVE PUSHCHAIRS OR SOMEONE UNSTEADY ON THEIR FEET ONLY MOUNTAIN GOATS WOULD ENJOY THIS EXPERIENCE. the first thing you see are then kiddy amusements which you have to pay for which sticks in the throat when you have just forked out ( in our case) £50 to get in! thanks very much. even my gullible 4 year old was not taken in by the dinosaurs (only redeemed when one spurted water out at her)and the space light show was more akin to a 70's disco. the pharaohs tomb was just embarrassing both in its quality and tackiness finishing as it did in the gift shop - how blatant. and if anyone in your party needs the toilet do not stray from the entrance as that is where the only one is unless the kiosk lady at the far end of the park takes pity on you and lets you use a disabled one next to her stall.it did not help that the weather was terrible but there was little shelter with people crammed under awnings and trees to avoid the monsoon - which made the paths even more treacherous.we might have enjoyed the wolf show but the seating was soaking and the wolves were hiding from the rain. all in all this rates as typical rip off Britain and how the owner got past health and safety with these alpine walkways i will never know. we were advised to complain but the helpless staff in the information center were too busy listening to people who got there before us .shame on you for ruining our children's day as we could not afford to go anywhere else afterwards.