I bet you didn’t know, but Cotswold Wildlife Park is the largest privately owned zoological collection in the UK. It was opened in 1970 by John Heyworth, who inherited the manor house and 3,000 acres of surrounding grounds. Before it was turned into a zoo, the place was rented out for 20 years (1949 – 1969) to Oxford Hospital, providing medical services to the community. It was an inevitable measure to generate a steady income to cover taxes and restore the deteriorating property. Although, that money wasn’t enough to make John Heyworth’s dream come true, so he borrowed £40,000, a huge amount of money at that time, to buy the animals and set up the park. He also managed to attract volunteers to work on an unpaid basis until he had the cash flow to pay them. John’s wife, Sue, supported him all the way along the line. Although she never really liked animals because of a small incident when a cat had a wee on her leg when she was a child.