Cornish Seal Sanctuary

It is a long walk from the entrance to the first area with the seals. Up a long gentle slope and then down a steep hill. Allow 20 mins with small children. The map they give you is very misleading. The map gives the impression everything is close together. This walk can be quite a trial with small children. You can wait for a shuttle bus. Once you and the kids are in the area with the seals then there is another 10 minute walk to the area with the two sleeping (when I visited) otters. The map they provide is again very misleading and makes it seem that the otters are adjacent to the seals. They are not. TOILETS; there are no toilets in the area with the seals (this is also the area with the children's activity area and the area with the cafe). You have to carry/run your children up the steep hill (allow ten mins) to reach the toilets. I think that this is very poor.

We recently visited the Cornish Seal Sanctuary for the first time. It was one of the most wonderful places we've seen. The work being done to help care for orphaned seals among other work is amazing. I would recommend it to anyone. Come with a pram or carrier if you think walking to and from the main entrance to the main exhibits might be tough. It is worth the walk. Restroom locations are not 100% ideal, but it was easily doable for us with our two young ones. Ask the knowledgable staff anything you want to know or learn about the animals and the rescue work they are doing. It is worth while. I also recommend visiting when most of the pup rescue is going on, which I believe is between September and March. This is a great place not only for enrichment, but also to know your entry fees are being well spent!

I can not fault the sanctuary. It is a fantastic facility and they do some great work in rescuing and releasing seals back in to the wild. We really enjoyed talking to the staff about the work that they do and found the talks by one young lady really informative and educational. I’ve just read another review which complained about the hill that the sanctuary is on. Just wanted to mention that that Cornwall is not the flattest county in the UK!!!! The location is absolutely beautiful and the views of Helford Estuary are outstanding. If you want a sterile, bland theme park then I suggest you go elsewhere. Perhaps a sign at the top of the hill mentioning that these are the only ones might stop some folks from moaning.