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August open weekend 2022
August 27, 2022 @ 10:00 am - August 29, 2022 @ 4:00 pm

Saturday 27th to Monday 29th August, 10am till 4pm each day. Entry £5 adults, £2 children per day, tickets are only valid on day of purchase.
We hope you can join us for our August open weekend, which takes place across 3 days on the August bank holiday weekend. It was so nice to see everyone at our Easter open weekend and we do hope you can come and see us this August. We have lots of activities for all the family, including:
- Food and drink
- Wildlife talks
- Fairy door trail every day
- Pond dipping – set times, morning session is 11:30am Saturday and Sunday, 11am Monday. Afternoon sessions 1:30pm and 3pm each day
- Seed bombs
- Mask and badge making
- Craft/gift market featuring local artists
- Meet our resident birds of prey
- Daphne Neville, the actor famous for her conservation work, will be attending with Rudi, an Asian short-clawed otter. Rudi was adopted from a wildlife park after being rejected by his mother and he now helps Daphne teach people about the threats posed by river pollution.
Talk times
We have a lot of talks happening! These will all be in our talk arena except Daphne Neville, who will be set up outside our Interpretation area/reception.
Saturday
- 10:30am – Hedgehog Rescue and Rehabilitation
- 11am – History of Secret World Wildlife Rescue
- 11:30am – Meet our resident birds of prey
- 12pm – 1pm – Daphne Neville and Rudi the otter
- 1pm – Hedgehog Rescue and Rehabilitation
- 2pm – History of Secret World Wildlife Rescue
- 2:30pm – Meet our resident birds of prey
- 3pm – 4pm – Daphne Neville and Rudi the otter
Sunday
- 10:30am – Hedgehog Rescue and Rehabilitation
- 11am – Marathon Man – Hear from Goff Welchman, 72 years old and with a metal hip, who has chosen to support Secret World while running the London Marathon, his first (and only!) marathon
- 11:30am – Meet our resident birds of prey
- 12pm – 1pm – Daphne Neville and Rudi the otter
- 1pm – Hedgehog Rescue and Rehabilitation
- 2pm – History of Secret World Wildlife Rescue
- 2:30pm – Meet our resident birds of prey
- 3pm – 4pm – Daphne Neville and Rudi the otter
Monday
- 10:30am – Hedgehog Rescue and Rehabilitation
- 11:30am – Bird of prey talk with Chris Sperring MBE from the Hawk and Owl Trust
- 12pm – 1pm – Daphne Neville and Rudi the otter
- 1pm – Hedgehog Rescue and Rehabilitation
- 2pm – History of Secret World Wildlife Rescue
- 2:30pm – Bird of prey talk with Chris Sperring MBE from the Hawk and Owl Trust
- 3pm – 4pm – Daphne Neville and Rudi the otter
Our fun Dog Show returns for Sunday and is not to be missed. Entries from 10am for an 11:30am start. £2 per category, all entrants must have tickets for the open day. Categories are: – Prettiest Bitch – Handsomest Dog – Golden Oldie – Best Pupper – Most Appealing Eyes – Best Rescue – Best Crossbreed – Waggiest Tail – Most Smiley Face – Best Trick – Dog the judge would most like to take home (chosen from all entrants).
Online registration for the dog show is now open! Beat the queues and paid for your entries here: https://www.secretworld.org/event/august-2022-dog-show-registration
If you’d rather pay cash on the day, please make sure you arrive in good time.
Please note that our cake/drinks stall will be cash only. We will have card machines for admission and gift shop, and traders may have their own card machines, but these are dependent on a reliable mobile signal. We are unable to provide cashback so we recommend bringing cash – the nearest free cashpoints are One Stop and Asda, both in Highbridge.
Unfortunately, as we are in Somerset, we can’t guarantee it won’t be raining! We’ll be hoping for good weather, but some activities may be limited to what we can do under cover if the heavens open.
This will be a great chance to see our new wildlife treatment centre and enjoy the interactive learning displays in the reception area. This event is suitable for all ages, and all are welcome! Please note that some areas and footpaths are loose ground/gravel and are not wheelchair accessible. Well-behaved dogs are also welcome and must be kept on leads at all times.
If you have any items you’d like to donate for our animals, we will have a donation table by the event entrance. Things we’re in need of at the moment are tinned dog food in jelly, dry dog food/biscuits, and sachets and tins of beef/chicken cat food in jelly. We’re OK for newspapers, blankets and towels thank you.
Our site is closed to the public except for open weekends, so this is a fantastic opportunity to visit and learn more about how we are helping wildlife. Please note that none of our wildlife admissions will be on display; our work with wild animals is done behind closed doors and limiting human interaction gives them the best possible chance of returning to the wild.