The £12 UK train where you can see polar bears from your seat

The UK has its fair share of scenic rail routes, showcasing everything from rugged Scottish countryside to the spectacular Cornish coast.

But did you know there’s a journey where you can see polar bears roaming about and taking a dip?

No, we haven’t lost our marbles. There really are polar bears in the UK, and you can catch a glimpse of three of these formidable creatures behind a train window.

We are talking, of course, about Jimmy’s Farm, a wildlife park near Ipswich that describes its 16-acre (6.5ha) estate as Europe’s largest polar bear enclosure.

To get there, you’ll need to head to London Liverpool Street and hop on a Greater Anglia train heading to Norwich. Or, if you’re in Norfolk, do the journey in reverse and take the train to London. 

There are several stops along the way, but it’s between Manningtree and Ipswich that you’ll want to keep your eyes peeled. 

The enclosure backs onto the main train line, giving passengers a front row seat when the giant carnivores are out and about. 

Fares start from £12, and the full journey takes roughly one hour and 50 minutes (although there are also faster 90-minute trains). You can book tickets here.

The farm and wildlife park, operated by TV presenter Jimmy Doherty, started taking in polar bears in 2023 after their long-time home at a zoo in Sweden closed.

Orsa Predator Park shut its doors in 2022, leaving its unsold animals, including a polar bear named Ewa, at risk of being put to sleep.

With alopecia and a broken claw, Ewa was unfit to be released back into the wild. That’s when Jimmy stepped in. 

He borrowed money from the bank to build an enclosure with a saltwater dipping pool, along with two lakes, two dens, a large natural woodland area and a state-of-the-art ventilated house.

When all was ready, Ewa was shipped from Sweden to Suffolk, and was soon joined by three fellow polar bears: Hope, who had also been at the Orsa Predator Park, and Flocke and Tala, who came from the Yorkshire Wildlife Park and are part of the European Endangered Species Programme (EEP).

But tragedy struck in September when 11-year-old Hope died after undergoing a dental procedure.

In a statement, Jimmy’s Farm said it was ‘deeply saddened to announce the loss of Hope, our much-loved bear, who passed away following a vital dental procedure’.

In a post on X, the park said Hope’s operation was carried out by a ‘highly experienced’ team of seven veterinary surgeons, two veterinary nurses and members of its animal care staff.

‘Despite their best efforts, sadly Hope did not recover,’ it said.

‘While the outcome was not what any of us had hoped for, it reflects the reality that, in zoological and conservation work, animals often require complex veterinary interventions to maintain their quality of life.

‘Hope’s passing is a profound loss for our park and conservation community.’

The London to Norwich train is used by thousands of commuters every day, so for many, the Polar Bears will be a familiar sight.

In a recent TikTok video, @bradleyt_28 described the bears as the ‘best part’ of his daily journey. His clip of them quickly went viral, racking up over 819,000 views and nearly 100,000 likes.

People were baffled, with @saffarindia asking: ‘What the hell is a polar bear doing in Ipswich, England?’

Similarly, @alexlcfc02 said: ‘Why do we have polar bears in 17 degree England?’

Others confessed they thought they’d been ‘hallucinating’ the first time they saw the bears, as @mythshroom7 wrote: ‘Okay listen this is my Roman Empire. I told my friends I saw polar bears and nobody believed me for months. When they finally saw them I felt so good you don’t understand.’

Questions have long been raised about Britain’s suitability for polar bears.

Previously, wildlife charity Born Free’s Chris Lewis said: ‘The zoo industry must remove their blinkers and accept that the welfare needs of polar bears cannot be met in captivity and humanely bring this practice to its long-awaited end.’

As for how the bears manage without the snow and ice, Jimmy’s Farm says that summer temperatures in parts of the Arctic tundra reach highs of 26C, and most bears ‘do not reside on the ice throughout the year’.

They add that the temperatures in Hudson Bay (polar bear country) can also get higher than those in Suffolk. 

The bears at the farm are able to regulate their temperature by going into the shaded woodland and swimming in the pool.

In addition to polar bears, Jimmy’s Farm is also home to arctic foxes, arctic wolves, brown bears, lemurs, zebra, raccoons, capybara and anteaters.

This story was originally published on July 29, 2025 and has been updated.

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