Name the Gorilla & Colouring Competition

The months of July and August are Gorilla months at Arnos Vale. 

Arnos Vale has one of the Bristol Zoo 175th Birthday Celebrations Gorillas, sponsored by Bristol Blue Glass and beautifully painted by Jane Veveris.  The Gorilla is hiding at Arnos Vale and enjoying the peace and tranquility of its surroundings whilst also taking pride of place! 

Truly magnificent and vibrant - pop along any day of the week - entry is always free of charge - and see if you can find him.  If you want to cheat then a map showing you the location of our Gorilla can be found in our Gift Shop, which is located in the East Lodge (to your left as you enter the site off the Bath Road entrance).

Arnos Vale launched two competitions on the 5th July; Name our Gorilla and a Colouring competition.  Hundreds of entries were sent in and we received some wild and whacky names as well as some wonderful colouring entries. 

We've now named our Gorilla.  The winning name was "Treasure" and was suggested by our lucky winner Oliver Nicholls.  Oliver received a voucher to spend in our Gift Shop.

Colouring Competition. Choosing three winners for the colouring competition was really difficult as they were all so amazing! So, we thought we'd ask an expert! Simon Gurr, professional illustrator who was here on a Gurrillustrations workshop, chose the three winning entries in the end. 

The winners were; Isla Roberts aged 3.5 years, Imogen aged 11 years and Kayleigh Jones aged 10 years.  Each of the winners won a selection of items from our Gift Shop - bouncing ball, balancing butterflies, bird nest, sweets, finger puppet, paper planes - there was too much choice available for childrens items in the shop to choose from!

Name the Gorilla - Oliver Nicholls was the lucky winner for naming our Gorilla - he is now called Treasure and Oliver won himself a voucher to spend in our Gift Shop on any unique and unusual items he can find!

If you haven't visited the Gift Shop yet - then pop in the next time you visit!  It's open every day of the week and there is something for every budget and every taste - you'll be surprised at the variety of items available that you won't find anywhere else!

Take our Growing Gift Cards and Tags - they look like normal cards, but they are embedded with flower seeds - they can be used as gift cards, tags, christmas tree hangings, wedding favours etc.  Once the event has passed - simply plant them in soil, water them and you will be rewarded with beautiful flowers that will grow year after year.

Fine bone china mugs, plants, wildlife items - bat boxes, bird nests, hedgehog houses, glass angels, fragrant candles, books, toys, pocket money items.... come and see for yourself what we have - you won't be disappointed!

You can also visit our cafe, located in the Spielman Centre, for hot and cold drinks and scrummy cakes. 

There's more to Arnos Vale that you think - and one visit will never be enough - there's always something new to see and explore!