Flitter, Flutter, Butterflies - a visit to The Butterfly Farm

Flitter, Flutter, Butterflies – a visit to The Butterfly Farm

What an awful day it was yesterday weatherwise!  Rain, rain and more rain.  It was a day that called for an adventure of the Flitter, Flutter, Butterflies variety.  Luckily my son and I had already decided on an indoor trip out with a special family friend.  I’d ordered some Days Out Vouchers with my Tesco Reward points, we picked our friend up en route and headed off to Stratford-upon-Avon.

On a nice sunny day, there is nowhere better to go than Stratford.  You can walk by the river, feed the ducks and swans, go window shopping, picnic in the park and people watch.  On a cold and wet day in May this was sadly not an option!

We parked up in the riverside car park and walked across the road to The Butterfly Farm.  As you’ll know from a previous post we are rather keen on butterflies in this house, but in all the years I’ve been visiting Stratford, I’d never made it to the Butterfly Farm before.

Flitter, Flutter, Butterflies - a visit to The Butterfly Farm

To say that this place is a hidden gem is a bit of an understatement!  We were amazed by the amount of butterflies that were all around us within seconds of entering the butterfly house.  According to the leaflet we were given when we entered, the Butterfly Farm is ….

The UK’s largest tropical butterfly paradise…..

I can’t disagree.  Everywhere we turned we saw butterflies, of numerous species.  My son was in his element.

Flitter, Flutter, Butterflies - a visit to The Butterfly Farm

Flitter, Flutter, Butterflies - a visit to The Butterfly Farm

Flitter, Flutter, Butterflies - a visit to The Butterfly Farm

We saw some of the butterflies feeding on fruit and others resting on the plants.  There are little bridges to walk over and a large pool containing some wonderful fish.  For 20p you could feed the fish which Monkey just loved.

Flitter, Flutter, Butterflies - a visit to The Butterfly Farm

Flitter, Flutter, Butterflies - a visit to The Butterfly Farm

 

There is a Caterpillar Room and you can see the chrysalis hanging up, waiting for butterflies to emerge.  We spotted some well hidden caterpillar eggs on a banana leaf which also fascinated my little ‘bug boy’.

Flitter, Flutter, Butterflies - a visit to The Butterfly Farm

Not only are there loads of butterflies, a Caterpillar Room with Moths too, but there is also an Insect City and Arachnoland.  We saw beetles, spiders, stick insects (I loved these as my Dad reared numerous varieties when I was a kid), snakes, giant snails and more besides.

We all had a wonderful time, and went round the whole Farm a number of times, spotting something new, each time around.  You can also leave the Farm and return later in the day if you retain your ticket.

The only downside is that you need to leave the Farm to use public toilets and there is no on-site tea-shop/cafe.  There are other facilities within walking distance. But on a day like yesterday with a 3-year-old in tow, it would have been so much nicer if we could have just sat down in the dry, had a coffee and slice of cake or some lunch and spent more time in the Farm itself.

That said, I can thoroughly recommend this Butterfly Farm, there is so much to see and it really was good value for money.

 

 

2 thoughts on “Flitter, Flutter, Butterflies – a visit to The Butterfly Farm

  1. this looks good, I remember going to a butterfly house as a kid and it was quite excting! I think there is a really big butterfly centre in st albans too, which i have been meaning to check out at some point

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