The Butterfly Farm

The Butterfly Farm: Stratford-Upon-Avon

Stratford-Upon-Avon, birthplace of Shakespeare and home to the Royal Shakespeare Company, great place to be if you like Shakespeare, and places such as Anne Hathaway’s cottage or Charlecote Park. Less often spoke about is The Butterfly Farm, probably because unlike the Theatre it isn’t worth the travel on its own. But should you ever find yourself in Stratford, here is why you should visit.

The Butterfly’s: 

Common Eggfly

Whilst it may seem obvious it is very difficult to describe how beautiful it is when you walk into the first room. Along with the wave of heat the first thing you notice is how utterly unafraid they are of Humans. Darting about around your head in their myriad colours and varieties it can be difficult to orientate yourself or notice all the species around you. When I was last there I had a Christmas Butterfly (According to the Guidebook) land on my shoulder and refuse to move for a good fifteen minutes. Finding them all and realising that you have seen them is a task that could take hours, and with the many segments and pathways you can take, good luck completing the chart in your guidebook.

The Postman Butterfly

Perhaps the best thing about The Butterfly House is that it can either be extremely educational or just good fun. The garden area itself has very little in the way of information,without a guidebook you are own your own. The information comes in rooms that intersperse the garden. In the room focused on caterpillars you can easily ignore the information and just look at the different types of Caterpillar happily munch its way through the plants, or you can read the panels and learn about the different types of Caterpillar you are seeing. I tend to move fairly quickly on after finding some to look at but that’s just me. By far the best thing about this room is the glass display in which you can see the Butterfly’s emerging. That’s the theory anyway, in all my visits as a child I never saw one emerge, bad luck I suppose.

Iguana’s 

Iguana

Iguana hunting, one of the most enjoyable things about the day is finding Iguana’s that lurk above you as you walk around. Whilst this is a small and almost insignificant part of your time at the Butterfly Farm it is one of the small things that adds up to a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

Spiders:

Tarantula

If you are in anyway a fan of Spiders well then it might be worth a visit just for the different Tarantulas they have on display in the Mini Beast Metropolis area of the complex. Whilst some people may be put off by the huge line of ants parading up and down the ropes above your head the other creatures in the room make it more than worthwhile. Take the North American Black Widows tiny but terrifying, be glad that there are two layers of protective casing between you and them. My personal favourite however is the Scorpion, because, well it’s a scorpion. Need I say more?

Chameleon

If what was said above wasn’t enough to convince you that the garden had a good number of creepy crawlies, it bears adding that what is listed above is the first of two rooms and the smaller of them. Without giving you an exhaustive list they have a Royal Python, a Skink, a chameleon and just for good measure a selection of mantis’s to name a few. 

Tarantula No2

To sum up:

If you want a day filled with Creepy Crawlies, Butterfly’s and all manner of beautiful creatures this is the place to go. The only downside, it is very warm and humid to keep the creatures happy. (Which isn’t really a downside.) At a readily affordable price for a day ticket you can split what time you spend between there and wherever else takes your fancy. Well worth a visit!

H