The 2011 film We Bought a Zoo features Matt Damon who plays a man living the city life who decides to jack it all in and purchase a zoo despite not knowing the first thing about animals. If you’ve ever dreamed of living the plot of a movie, here’s your chance to follow in the footsteps of Kevin James’ larger than life character in Zoo Keeper!
Located by the coast just a few miles from Aberystwyth Uni, the Animalarium [zoo] is a 12-acre complex that’s home to countless exotic animals, play areas and of course a restaurant [alcohol license not included, sadly]. The zoo’s Rightmove listing suggests annual visitors of over 24,000 men, women, children and of course students looking to get up-close to reptiles, monkeys, birds and there’s even a leopard and a lion.
For the £650k price tag is everything required to run the place as an attraction; including equipment, trailers, a valid zoo license and a few members of staff. If you want to go full-Damon and run the zoo as a business, you’ll be living in the owners bungalow: a 2-bedroom building with ‘sea views’. No longer will landlords be able to say no to pets when you can have a fully-grown lion!
Of course there would be a few down sides. Nobody likes cleaning up after their housemates. If were you to live here, a lot of your time would be spent cleaning up and it wouldn’t all be empty Redbull cans and Vodka bottles would it? But on the positive side, who else can wake up in the morning and go and play with meerkats?
So club together with some friends and you could very well become the latest Lord Bath type eccentric with an actual zoo in your back garden.