One of Matlock Bath's lesser known former attractions were the Aviaries and Monkey House that stood on Lovers' Walks for quite a few years between the wars. The photograph shows us the location as, peeping out through the trees, the Lower Tower and the properties on part of Waterloo Road can be seen. The river is on the left.

They were built on the section where the Lovers' Walks are slightly wider; the area is now a children's playground. Visitors crossing Jubilee Bridge used to have to pay a fee to access the Lovers' Walks. They could turn left and listen to the band playing in the band kiosk or turn right and see the animals and birds. Guide books written after World War One state that "plants and flowers grace this delightful region in profusion, and a recent addition is a small aviary^[1]".

There is a longish flat raised area at the bottom of the hillside and some of the buildings were on that; these are the wooden buildings on the right of the photograph. The same place was used to display some of the set pieces for the Venetian Fête in the 1950s.

The buildings, which were fairly substantial, disappeared during the Second World War. One possible explanation is that the food required to feed the wildlife became unavailable. It would have also been difficult to find people in the village to look after them.