Rugby World Cup winner Phil Vickery will unveil new Cotswold café

Rugby World Cup winner Phil Vickery will unveil the new Cotswold café at Birdland Park & Gardens this Thursday the 7th of December. The former front-row favourite at Gloucester, who has since built a burgeoning foodie career after winning Celebrity Masterchef in 2011, will be at the Cotswold attraction to endorse the new-look eatery.

The Nest Kitchen and Café officially opens on Thursday and there will be a special 10 per cent discount over the weekend to mark the occasion. Vickery, a former England captain who played for Gloucester for 11 years, now works for food service company Creed, which will supply the café with a delicious selection of hot and cold options. There will be a daily selection of sandwiches and salads or for something warmer during the winter months, there is the chance to load your choice of potato or rice with tasty toppings including pulled pork, beef chilli or halloumi.

The café is not the only innovation to be revealed at Birdland next month. The Bourton-on-the-Water attraction has also created a Changing Places facility, a fully accessible toilet to help visitors with limited mobility. Birdland general manager Simon Cox said: "We're always looking to make improvements to make the visitor experience as enjoyable as possible and the newly-renovated café and toilet are great examples of that. We are open all year round so we want to ensure that everyone who comes to visit us has a day to remember."

The Penguin Shore enclosure, which underwent a dramatic redesign in 2022, is home to Birdland's resident celebrity, Spike the King Penguin. The 16-year-old star has just won the title of Most Popular Penguin in the World, which was revealed exclusively live on BBC programme The One Show. His subsequent coronation ceremony was then reported on by BBC 5 Live radio presenter Colin Murray, who is a big fan of the park. Spike now has more than 18,000 Facebook followers.

The park's magical combination of wildlife, woodland, riverside and gardens makes it the perfect day out during the six-week recess. Among the exciting schedule of daily entertainments are penguin, pelican and flamingo feeding displays, where visitors can find out all about the different species, what they like to eat, who is the most mischievous of the flock and fascinating insights from Birdland's team of expert keepers. The Out of Africa area provides the opportunity to meet a variety of exotic species such as black-checked love birds, a colony of village weavers, touracos, spreo starlings, guinea fowl, exotic ducks and the bizarre-looking ground hornbills. Prehistoric adventures await intrepid explorers and those brave enough to venture into the Jurassic Journey. Spot species including T-Rex and brachiosaurus through the trees and look up high into the canopies for a glimpse of the pterodactyls flying above.

Birdland opens every day of the year (apart from Christmas Day) at 10am. For more information visit www.birdland.co.uk