Tuesday 22 April 2014

Newly-restored Butterfly House Re-opens to Visitors


Blenheim Palace’s new Butterfly House has re-opened its doors to visitors following a £100,000 renovation project.
Restored Butterfly House

Kia Hopewell Smith, aged nine, at
Blenheim Palace's newly restored
Butterfly House

A group of youngsters helped release dozens of exotic butterfly species from Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines in to the new house.

As well as creating an entirely new structure to house the collection, the renovation programme has also increased the overall size of the butterfly area, and doubled the size of the water feature.

There is also a whole new hatchery area where visitors can see the pupae develop within their chrysalises before being released in to the main area.

Garden staff have also been hard at work planting a wide variety of nectar-rich flowers including marguerite, black eyed Susan’s, hydrangea and hibiscus. There are also sugar bowls and fruit from which the butterflies can feed.

Head of Gardens, Hilary Wood, said: “It’s been a huge amount of work to get the Butterfly House open but we’re all absolutely delighted with the results.

“The work has safeguarded the building for many years to come and has also allowed us to improve the overall visitor experience while also developing and adding to the existing facilities for the butterflies.

“It’s an amazing sight to see the house filled with exotic butterflies once again and we’re expecting many more to hatch out over the coming days” she added.

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