Stratford Butterfly Farm
The Stratford Butterfly Farm in Stratford-upon-Avon is the largest butterfly house in the United Kingdom and one of the most popular family attractions in the Midlands, a tropical greenhouse environment where hundreds of free-flying exotic butterflies share a carefully maintained rainforest habitat with a remarkable collection of other tropical invertebrates and small creatures. Opened in 1985, the farm was a pioneering attraction in Britain when it was established and continues to provide a genuinely extraordinary encounter with the natural world. The main tropical greenhouse maintains the temperature, humidity and plant life of an equatorial rainforest, creating conditions in which species from across South America, Asia and Africa can complete their life cycles. The plants that fill the space include exotic flowering species chosen to provide both visual richness and the nectar sources that sustain the butterfly population. Walking through the greenhouse in high summer, with morpho butterflies with their iridescent blue wings catching the light and owl butterflies resting on fallen fruit, provides an experience of the tropical world available nowhere else in the British Midlands. The life cycle of the butterflies is observable at every stage within the farm. The emergence room allows visitors to watch adult butterflies emerging from their chrysalises, a process of transformation that is one of the most genuinely astonishing spectacles in the natural world. The variety of chrysalis forms, from the golden-spotted swallowtail to the extraordinary leaf-mimicking forms of other species, demonstrates the breadth of evolutionary solutions to the challenge of metamorphosis. Beyond butterflies, the farm maintains a fascinating collection of tropical insects. Leafcutter ants carry their plant fragments to their colony in a steady stream visible through a perspex tube running through the building. Giant millipedes, stick insects, praying mantises and a collection of tarantulas and other spiders provide additional encounters with the world's invertebrate diversity. The proximity to Stratford's other attractions, including Shakespeare's birthplace, the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and the historic town centre, makes the Butterfly Farm a natural addition to a day in this very popular tourist destination.