I confess to generally enjoying an occasional zoo visit, provided the animals don’t appear cramped or distressed. Chester Zoo covers 128 acres, has in excess of 20,000 animals (does that include ants?) and employs more than 1,000 people. Nobody recognised my tuneless rendition of “Daddy’s taking us to the zoo.” Maybe because it was tuneless.Ĭhester Zoo has quite a reputation and, with more than 2 million pre-pandemic visitors each year, is Britain’s most visited zoo. Extreme youngsters were visiting they like animals don’t they – so what better than a trip to the zoo? Eschewing a more local option in favour of the much bigger and allegedly more betterer Chester Zoo, a 4-5 hour round trip, we set off with a song on our lips and all that stuff. Here, in her enthralling memoir, June Mottershead chronicles the heartbreak, the humour, the trials and triumphs, above all the characters, both human and animal, who shaped her childhood.Last Updated on 18th February 2022 by seemed like a good idea.

Now over 80 years since June first set foot in the echoing house, Chester Zoo has achieved worldwide renown. Yet George's resilience, resourcefulness and tenacity eventually paid off. Nightly bombing raids turned the dream into a nightmare and finding food for the animals became a constant challenge. They were shunned by the local community, bankruptcy threatened and then World War Two began.

The early years were not without their obstacles for the Mottersheads. Read more - for June, they were simply family. Soon her best friend was a chimpanzee called Mary, lion cubs and parrots were vying for her attention in the kitchen, and finding a bear tucked up in bed was no more unusual than talking to a tapir about granny's lemon curd. When George Mottershead moved to the village of Upton-by-Chester in 1930 to realise his dream of opening a zoo without bars, his four-year-old daughter June had no idea how extraordinary her life would become. 'With characteristic self-effacement, she puts the escapades of charismatic animals ahead of her own feelings.' The Guardian. A wonderfully nostalgic memoir detailing the fascinating lives of the working class family behind the phenomenally successful Chester Zoo.

Our Zoo by June Mottershead