Drusillas Park — Zoo in East Sussex

Drusillas Park and its collection

Drusillas Park, opened in 1920, is a zoo in Polegate, United Kingdom.

Yearly visitors number between 350,000 and 370,000. Play areas are split between children under and over nine, and there is an indoor soft play, the daily Safari Express train and six further rides.

History

The business started in 1925 as Drusilla's Tea Cottage under Douglas Ann and his first wife, Drusilla, with animals coming later. A fire shut it from April to November 1954, and Ann's sons took over the running of it in 1959. It held Europe's first Hello Kitty attraction until December 2021.

Animals and collection

There is a deliberate policy of stocking mostly small species; the primates include Sulawesi crested macaque, brown capuchin, colobus and lar gibbon. Servals, Rodrigues fruit bats, red pandas, Humboldt penguins, binturongs and fennec foxes are also kept, along with two Bactrian camels called Lofty and Roxy.

What the venue says

• Zoolympics
• Safari Express Train
• Flying Cheetahs
• Toucan Twister
• Rainforest Carousel
• There is a large on-site car park available for visitors, and **parking is completely free of charge**
• The main pathways around the park are flat, feature proper ramps, and are generally fully wheelchair accessible.
• Wheelchairs are available to hire (typically via a refundable deposit).