These cattle are completely wild and have been for centuries. This has been their home since the thirteenth century and the herd now numbers in excess of 80. To find out more about the cattle, visit chillinghamwildcattle.com. Yet they survive year after year in harsh winters, simply grazing from the same land their ancestors have grazed for centuries. Since then, they have been left free to roam, untainted by human contact. The eclectic array of artefacts within the castle includes a display of torture implements. Chillingham Castle, which is said to be the most haunted fortress in England, is a 20-minute walk from the wild cattle park. No, there are no baby changing facilities. Watching them is fascinating. At the time of writing (Jun 2015), the ticket prices are as follows: All tickets can be bought either at the gate or, if you wish, book in advance at any of the Tourist Information Centres in Northumberland and receive 10% off. Chillingham Wild Cattle Park has not told us if they are fully pushchair friendly. The Wild Cattle of Chillingham are remarkable survivors of the ancient cattle which once roamed Britain’s forests. They had gathered by the hemmel, a stone barn where a collection of cattle bones and skulls were strewn on a wooden bench. Visitors are not permitted to enter unaccompanied by the warden. Under 16 – £4.00. Others scratched their backs against tree trunks in a field where nettles sprouted, showing little interest in head-to-head contests of strength taking place just paces away. Chillingham Castle Medieval castle in Chillingham, England. The Chillingham Wild Cattle can be found at Chillingham Park near Alnwick in the north of the county and are truly unique. Intrigued, a spur of the moment decision prompted a dash to catch the final Sunday tour of Chillingham’s wild cattle enclosure, which begins at midday. Neither fallow nor roe deer, or even red squirrel — all creatures that inhabit the countryside around Chillingham — revealed themselves as I hurried across the field between the estate’s top car park and the enclosure. First pushing against each other they then swung their horns at each other’s flanks. They are the only truly wild cattle in the world. The Wild Cattle of Chillingham. They exist in Chillingham Park, in which they were fenced off from the surrounding countryside to provide hunting sport for visiting nobles. It is advisable to take cash to pay the warden. Adults – £8.50. Chillingham Wild Cattle fighting. Please always check directly with the venue first before visiting. Registered address: 3&4 Regal Court, 6 Sovereign Road, Kings Norton Business Centre, Birmingham, B30 3HN, England. Concessions: £13. Prices. These tickets include a tour of the Wild Cattle with the warden. Wild Cattle Tour ticket prices – PRE-BOOK ONLY. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Chillingham Castle is a medieval castle in The Village of Chillingham in the northern part of Northumberland, England.It was the seat of the Grey and Bennet families from the 15th century until the 1980s. Adults: £16. Trusted by millions of families since 2006. Not only are the cattle genetically identical, each one has received identical genes from its sire and its dam - unique among wild living animals. Two of the males then proceeded to rut. It looked anything but playful. See the Visit Northumberland website for ideas about things to see and do in England’s most northerly county. Tourist attraction with self catering holiday accommodation and ghost tours. Children 01668 215250) for information about tour times and prices. They're actually a little dangerous to approach so this part of the visit is done with a professional warden who will ensure your safety. The wild cattle of Chillingham do, undoubtedly, behave in a markedly different manner to a domesticated herd. […]. The footpath will still be open. You can almost hear the screams… in fact, you might well since the castle is said to be haunted and even runs ghost tours! Not only are the cattle genetically identical, each one has received identical genes from its sire and its dam - unique among wild living animals. Family ticket (2 Adults and 2 or 3 Children): £16. Thank you, Ferne. Tours of the wild cattle enclosure at Chillingham last approximately 45 minutes. Many attractions are still closed, while others may have opened with social distancing in place. They are, it claims, rarer than mountain gorillas and giant pandas. By Glen Bowman from Newcastle, England (My Best of 2005 29-08-2005 16-11-39) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Family ticket (2 Adults and 2 or 3 Children): £16, Combined Wild Cattle and Castle ticket prices, , Alnwick, Northumberland, NE66 5NP, England. Heavy snowdrifts on the Cheviot Hills were a factor in just five bulls and eight cows surviving. Chillingham is in rural Northumberland, approximately 16 miles from the town of Alnwick. In the nick of time I tagged on to the group who had already purchased their tickets to view the wild cattle of Chillingham. They are not vaccinated yet suffer no diseases (bio controls are strict around the Park to ensure no disease is brought in to or carried out of the herd’s domain). If you drive to the park, after ascending a track to the car park, you must walk a short distance (around 5-10 minutes) across a field to get the warden’s hut where the tour begins. But you can hear the fascinating history of these animals and see these rarest of animals with your own eyes. There are now over 100. This herd of cattle is so rare that a few animals have been taken to a secret location in Scotland, just in case the worst happened and the Chillingham herd did not survive. Stuart Forster visits Northumberland to see the wild cattle of Chillingham. Just minutes after my discovery, I was sitting in the car and heading northwards. If you’d asked me to guess, I’d never have suggested Northumberland, in the north-east of England, as the location of the world’s only herd of wild cattle. Adults: £8. In this case that led to a rewarding day out. The Park and the Wild Cattle are now open to visitors and will be through to 1st November. The soon abandoned their clashing of heads to stand side by side grazing, reminiscent of a couple of teenage humans drinking together after going loggerheads over a girl. By 1799 that number had risen threefold. “Locked horns” by Kristi Herbert – Flickr: Locked horns. The bulls fight viciously – their large horns point forward for attack (the cows’ horns point upwards). The cattle are very dangerous as they are not used to humans and can be fiercely defensive, so you won’t get up close. The notoriously harsh winter of 1947 came close to wiping out the wild cattle. An information board revealed that the first written record of the wild cattle dates to the 1640s, though it’s believed that the herd has existed in isolation for around eight centuries. Family ticket (2 Adults and up to 3 Children) – £17.50 To find out more about events and visiting the castle, see chillingham-castle.com. The cattle are unusual in colour; a cream/grey for the most part. The large bulls often have a darker speckling/patching around their head and chest, which is not natural colouring but mud and dirt from where the bull has kicked up the ground and rubbed itself in the mud to appear more threatening.