Lambton Lion Park in County Durham and reader memories from the 1970s; The safari park attracted thousands of visitors between 1972 and 1980. Chronicle readers recalled the park.
Byline: David Morton
It seems Lambton Lion Park was a favourite destination for North East folk in the 1970s.
Our recent feature recalled the 200-acre safari park which stood in the grounds of Lambton Castle, the ancestral home of Lord Lambton, in the heart of County Durham.
Between 1972 and 1980, thousands of families and schoolchildren made the trek to the park, not far from Chester-le-Street.
Lions were the park's main attraction, but there were also zebras, giraffes, camels, elephants, ostriches, baboons and a host of other exciting beasts. The park was also home to the world's second largest land mammal, the white rhino.
At the time, there were stories about baboons on the near-by A1, and a hippopotamus in Chester-le-Street, and it was reported that in wintertime the lions enjoyed a frolic in the snow.
After we ran our story, we received many letters, emails and phone calls, and readers left comments on our Facebook page.
Here are just a selection of them.
Rosa O'Donnell: My family went when I was seven years old. It was a huge event for me, seeing the lions and baboons. My mum was molested by an elephant! I remember thinking that we'd travelled half way down the country to get there (we lived in Whitley Bay) and the souvenir brochure had a photo of a lion's face on the front. Happy times.
Jo Wilson: We used to go there often as kids with mam and dad. I remember the monkeys climbing on our car and playing with my dad's windscreen wipers.
Vincent Wallace: I remember that they filmed a scene from the On The Buses film there, when the lion got on the bus with Blakey, and the monkey ended up driving the bus. One of the funniest clips I've ever seen.
Doug Wrightson: My dad's front wheel fell off his Morris car while driving through the lion enclosure in about 1973-74, with mam screaming in the front and us three kids crying in the back.
John Lodge: I remember heading towards Whitemare Pool and a line of baboons were walking down the central motorway. Escapes were common. Glad the lions didn't get out!
Julie Lawson: Superb school outings there. It was fantastic through a child's eyes. They had a lovely little giftshop too, items costing anything from 2 to 3p! Seems like an age ago.
Jillian Dixon: My grandad worked on one of the Lambton farms at Bournmoor. I can remember helping the rangers wash the elephants, and being scared of the baboons while they were being housed in the farm buildings prior to opening. Also, the elephants escaped and...
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