A POPULAR Honeybourne wildlife park is set to leave its village home and move to bigger surroundings near Stratford.
All Things Wild – a family-run wildlife park which opened ten years ago – has submitted a planning application to move to Willicote Farm near Clifford Chambers.
The owners say the move would enable the park to more than double in size and improve its animal habitats, broaden its educational opportunities and boost its conservation work.
It would also protect the 37 employees, including full time, part time and seasonal staff, while also creating more than 50 new jobs.
All Things Wild is home to farm animals together with the likes of camels, zebra, meerkats and more
Its mission has always been to create a fun and interactive environment to educate youngsters on the importance of conservation and their role in preserving the natural world.
The new park would include six geographical zones, each designed to evoke a different region of the planet, to introduce visitors to wildlife, habitats and conservation stories from around the world.
Interactive play-based learning and immersive technologies would be built into each zone and the extra space at the new site would enable All Things Wild to develop larger, more naturalistic enclosures. The additional space would also allow the park to welcome some new animals.
The new site would provide extra pace for the expansion of its Step Through Time dinosaur exhibit and its related education and play activities.
And bosses also want to introduce safari-style camping tents to enable overnight stays within the park.
A planning application has now been submitted to Stratford District Council and if given the green-light the move would begin in 2023 and would be carried out in phases, with the opening date set to be announced later this year.
Rebecca Harris, manager of All Things Wild, said: “This is a hugely exciting opportunity for us to improve our provision for our animals, and for our staff and visitors. We have grown steadily since opening in 2012 and have just celebrated our 10th anniversary.
“We are ambitious about what we can achieve in the future with our multi-million pound project, which will draw on support from our funding partners and will see our park grow from 30 acres to 80 acres.
“We’re determined to build on our conservation and education work and to become one of the UK’s leading wildlife and conservation experiences.
“Our new site is near our current operation as we have a local customer base who have been very supportive of our plans to move, and who we look forward to welcoming to the new and improved All Things Wild in years to come.”
