For those of us in the region who woke up to a blanket of snow today, it was nothing new. For the lions and other exotic animals who inhabited County Durham's Lambton Pleasure Park 45 years ago, it would have been very much a novel experience.
Our photographs captured by a Chronicle photographer in January 1978 show lions and zebras, naturally accustomed to the climate and habitat of Africa, enduring a cold winter in North East England.
During the 1970s, the popular visitor attraction in Chester-le-Street brought the call of the wild to the plains of County Durham. Opening in the grounds of Lambton Castle in July 1972, Lambton Lion Park became an instant hit and the destination for countless thousands of family outings and school trips during the decade.
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The lions naturally were the park’s main attraction, but there were also zebras and giraffes, mostly supplied by Jimmy Chipperfield of the famous circus family. Other Lambton regulars included Asian elephants, camels, bears, wildebeest, ostriches and baboons. The park was also home to the world’s second largest land mammal, the white rhino. The initial cost of acquiring all the animals was an estimated £60,000. The Chronicle in one story at the time, noting the presence of potentially dangerous wild animals, carried the headline: "Wardens have guns - just in case!"
Seven miles of roadway were constructed, winding through the 212-acre park among the animal areas and finally emerging at Lambton Castle where a restaurant, picnic area and pets' corner were built. Forty staff were appointed to run the safari park.
Thousands of cars were expected to roll on to the site each week, and with a cost of £1 per car, it was seen as a relatively inexpensive family day out. A car journey through the park would take between an hour and an hour and a half. For those without cars, there would special outings arranged by bus companies - and school children would be able to enjoy educational visits alongside their classmates.
By 1975, the park had become hugely popular, and there were sometimes three-mile tailbacks of cars waiting to gain entry. That year it was upgraded and relaunched as Lambton Pleasure Park. New features included a ‘Magic Castle’, children’s rides, an adventure playground, and a miniature railway. There was a restaurant, souvenir shops, and a feature called Lambton Airways plane, “which the visitor can board and enjoy some of the thrills of flight”. (The plane later ended up as an attraction in Gateshead's Saltwell Park).
But in 1980, after less than a decade in operation, Lambton Pleasure Park closed - a victim of rising costs and the difficult economic climate of the times. In 2012, the Lambton estate found itself used as the backdrop for the BBC period drama The Paradise. In 2019, an upmarket private housing estate built by Miller Homes, called Lambton Park, opened on the site of the former safari park. And last year, it was reported that almost 10 miles of new pathways - encompassing four new walks - were being opened up to the public as part of a major redevelopment of the Lambton estate.
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