Cotswold Wildlife Park celebrates Dreamnight milestone
Cotswold Wildlife Park has welcomed its 1,000th Dreamnight At The Zoo guest during a special after-hours evening for chronically ill and disabled children and their families
On Friday 5 June 2026, Cotswold Wildlife Park quietly opened its doors for a very special evening. This is the eleventh year the Park has hosted Dreamnight At The Zoo, an invitation-only event for chronically ill and disabled children and their families to exclusively enjoy the wildlife park after hours.
Over the last decade, more than 2,500 children from local charities have been invited to this annual event that makes dreams come true for some truly deserving guests.
Dreamnight At The Zoo was the brainchild of zoo keeper Peter van der Wulp. Back in 1996, Peter went to the Director of Rotterdam Zoo with a special request. His dream was to organise a free evening out at the zoo exclusively for children with cancer. Peter wanted it to be a joyous night for the whole family to enjoy and relax, without the worry of being treated differently.
What began as a single event has since grown into an annual international initiative of which Cotswold Wildlife Park is proud to be part. Today, more than two hundred zoos and aquariums from eleven different countries participate.
This year, eighty families were invited from Oxfordshire charity Helen & Douglas House, Rainbow Trust, ROSY, CALM, James Hopkins Trust and WellChild.
As well as the rare opportunity to see the animals at night when the Park is normally closed to visitors, keepers and staff volunteered to make the evening one to remember with unforgettable animal encounters featuring Lemurs, Giraffes, Penguins and, for the first time, the Park's Giant Tortoises.
The evening also included rides on the Park's narrow-gauge railway, refreshments, herb planting with the Park's gardeners, games on the Manor Lawn, animal crafts, music from Highworth Silver Band and the opportunity to meet birds of prey from Cotswold Falconry Centre, including several newly hatched chicks.
"Our families were absolutely thrilled to be invited to the special Dreamnight At The Zoo event. We support local terminally ill children and their families, and seeing their faces light up from the moment they arrived made the evening truly unforgettable. At Helen & Douglas House, we strive not only to provide outstanding medical care but also to help facilitate precious memories, and this experience gave families the opportunity to do just that. We are incredibly grateful to everyone at Cotswold Wildlife Park for their continued support and generosity in creating such a special experience for our families."
Kat Williams, Head of Care at Helen & Douglas House
Layla, who visits Helen & Douglas House for supportive stays, attended the event with her mother Megan and younger brother Louie.
"It was such a lovely evening and amazing to spend some quality time together as a family in an environment that's not too loud or busy. The activities they had on made it extra special and we were able to see the animals closer than you would usually be able to, we particularly enjoyed feeding the Giraffes. Thank you to Helen & Douglas House for inviting us to such an extraordinary event!"
Megan added that the evening provided valuable family time in a relaxed and welcoming environment.
Louie said: "I've never been so close to a Giraffe before and the Penguins were fun to watch being fed as they're my favourite animal."
"This June marked our 11th year of hosting Dreamnight At The Zoo. We have now welcomed 1,000 guests to the event since it began back in 2015 and it has been a privilege to be involved in the planning and organisation of such a special evening. Every year, staff and volunteers from across the Park come together to create a truly magical experience for children and their families. Seeing families relax and enjoy themselves is incredibly rewarding and being able to provide an experience they will hopefully cherish forever is unparalleled."
Lorah Wardle, Education and Activities Officer at Cotswold Wildlife Park and organiser of the event.
Committed to accessibility
In 2017, Cotswold Wildlife Park became the first major attraction in Oxfordshire to install a Changing Places toilet and hoist room. In the last seven years, with an investment of more than £600,000, the Park has continued to improve accessibility through the installation of resin pathways throughout the grounds.
There is easy wheelchair access to all enclosures, the Gift Shop, Oak Tree Restaurant and the narrow-gauge railway. The Park has also ensured all viewing windows are accessible to wheelchair and mobility scooter users, while ramps provide access to the Giraffe House, Wolverine enclosure and Waterfowl Lake area.
Cotswold Wildlife Park would also like to thank the generosity of Mark Dalton and the team at Cotswold Falconry Centre, Highworth Silver Band, the Park's staff and volunteers, and photographer Rebecca Louise for helping make the evening such a memorable occasion for the families attending Dreamnight At The Zoo.
Explore Gloucestershire
11 June 2026
Photo credit: Rebecca Farrow Photography
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