T

rentham in Staffordshire might not sound very exotic, but try telling that to the monkeys who have made this area their home.

There’s just a small wooden fence separating you from the 140 Barbary macaques who roam around this forest, but seeing as no one’s told the monkeys that, you can expect to get up close and personal as they run across the path in front of you, or pitch up on a neighbouring bench as you stop for a rest.

With 60 acres of land at their disposal, you can catch the hairier residents of Trentham Estate at ease in their natural habitat; from nursing mothers carrying tiny black bundles on their backs, and boisterous boys swinging from tree to tree, to adults taking a break from grooming and grabbing in order to fetch a bite to eat. All that, and not a cage in sight.

If, at the end of all this, you’re feeling a bit ‘monkey see, monkey do’, the nearby Banana Cafe has plenty of snacks to tame your appetite.