Latest News

May 2012

Following the latest inspection by the Environmental Officer from Wiltshire County Council. The Butterfly cafe has again been awarded 5 stars. Since its opening 8 years ago the butterfly cafe has consistently been awarded the full 5 stars.

New extractor fans have been introduced in the main Butterfly House.

This has made the existing opening windows obsolete.This has allowed us during the winter months to remove the insect screen from the main butterfly house and replace it with a new screen that follows the roof line giving more height. and better heat retention. This did necessitate the hard pruning of some of the larger plants to give access to carry out this work. The plants are now growing away freely and are producing lots more food for the caterpillars which in turn will be a bigger crop of Butterflies in a few weeks time.

Iggy has now found a new basking area on the trusses in the roof.

March 2012

Easter at Studley Grange

All children visiting Butterfly World during the Easter Period will recieve an Easter Egg - yum!

Water Balls!

RE-OPENS ON SATURDAY 31 MARCH

This attraction will be open every weekend and all school holidays until the end of October. It is also available for private hire during week days, to book please call us on 01793 852400.

Don't worry mum and dad, your kids won't be getting wet! Just having tonnes of fun zipped up in a water ball in our new pool.

It's all the thrills of a bouncy castle - but on water! Great for parties! And all fully supervised.

Crazy Golf

RE-OPENS ON SATURDAY 31 MARCH

This attraction will be open every weekend and all school holidays until the end of October. It is also available for private hire during week days, to book please call us on 01793 852400.

Come and enjoy a game of crazy golf at Studley Grange, which will re-open on 31 March 2012, along with the Sand workshop.

This attraction will be open every weekend and all school holidays until the end of October. It is also available for private hire during week days.

January 2012

Jurassic Coast coming to Swindon

The Jurassic Coast will soon be recreated at Studley Grange Butterfly World and CraftVillage, in the form of an exhibit consisting of genuine rocks and dinosaur footprints found at a quarry in Swanage.

The footprints were discovered by the quarry owner and some are now displayed in the British History Museum. A pair of footprints from the quarry are marching their way to Studley Grange, where a cliff will be created, using rocks which will be cut in half to expose these fossils.

The exhibit will be ready at some point between February and Easter, details will be available soon.

May 2011

Make that 15 in the Manor!

Just in time for the summmer, Studley Grange has five more meerkats in its Manor!

On 03 May, five healthy babies were born, joining the ten already in the gang.

The babies are already venturing out with mum and dad and their brothers and sisters to enjoy the spring sunshine.

"Our meerkats are turning into quite a family," says Phil Noon, manager of the Animal Paddock at Studley Grange.

"Who knows, we may have to think about building a second enclosure for them if the numbers keep expanding like they are!"

March 2011

Spring has arrived!

Studley Grange is again delighted to announce that three new baby meerkats have been born in our animal paddock. Increasing numbers from seven to 10!

The latest litter are already out on view with mum, dad and the rest of the meerkat family.

So why not come and down and say hello to the new additions.

JANUARY 2011

New Year, New Meerkats!

Once there was three.... now there's seven!

Studley Grange is delighted to show off the latest additions to our animal paddock - four beautiful baby meerkats.

After settling in brilliantly, our newly-named male meerkat, JD, has fathered a family of four, who were born just before Christmas.

But due to the icy cold conditions and snow, it's only now that the whole gang has ventured out from their cosy cabin and into their purpose-built enclosure.

"It's a fantastic start to the year to see them all out together for the first time," says Phil Noon, manager of the Animal Paddock at Studley Grange.

"We've got plenty of people coming down to see them and watching them grow. And it's fascinating to watch them all as a big family, just like Meerkat Manor."

NOVEMBER 2010

His name is J.D.!

Thank you to all the people who entered our competition to name our new Meerkat.

After much deliberation, April Donohue won with the suggestion J.D. - who, of course, was the male character played by Brad Pitt in the film Thelma & Louise.

Runner up was Samantha Jesson.

You'll all be pleased to know that J.D. had settled in brilliantly in his new home and his getting very friendly with his two female companions - so expect some news soon on possible additions!

JUNE 2010

Meerkats are magic!

Say hello to Thelma and Louise - the two new meerkats at Studley Grange.

Just weeks after our hugely popular otters arrived, our meerkats have also made their very own home-from-home in our animal paddock.

Although there is only two of them, we hope to add to our 'gang' of meerkats very soon with a new pal for our fantastic females.

Check back here for news. Simples!

APRIL 2010

The otters have arrived!

Studley Grange is delighted to announce the arrival of our first otters.

Four beautiful - and very mischievous! - otters have settled in to their specially-designed new home in our animal paddock and are already proving a massive attraction.

MARCH 2010

Egg Hunt amongst the butterflies!

Butterfly will be holding an Easter Egg hunt over the Easter holiday.

Every child will be able to receive one after finding one of the Easter bunnies placed within the Butterfly House.

There will also be a separate Easter egg hunt within the Craft Village.

Otter update

Good news! The Otter enclosure is now complete. We just need final clarification for our zoo licence, and our otters will be on their way!

Butterflies abound!

We apologise for not having our normal high numbers of butterflies flying during February, although we still had more than many other butterfly houses have during the summer.

Unfortunately, this was due to the very adverse weather conditions, and the hatch rate was far less than we have ever experienced before.

Now spring is here, we have substantially increased the number arriving over the last few weeks and - best of all - butterfly numbers will now be higher than we would normally have over the next few weeks.

FEBRUARY 2010

Studley Grange Otter Home Nearing Completion

Work is progressing well with the new otter enclosure, which will be home to our newest members of the family, three male otters.

Due to be completed by the end of February, the otters will be moving in to the brand new enclosure in early March.

With two ponds, a large area for running around and a specially-built house to shelter them from bad weather, our new residents can't wait to move in!

Visitors will be able to see them in their new living area all year round, and can even watch them being fed!

The enclosure has been specifically designed for us, and is the first of two new additions at Studley Grange - the second being the introduction of meerkats, which will hopefully be with us by the summer.

JULY 2009

Rare new arrivals at Studley Grange!

Visitors to our animal paddock this summer can enjoy two rare sights - our golden pheasant and his chicks, plus zebra finches in our new avery.

The golden pheasant chicks are all doing well and growing very quickly, so please visit us soon if you want to see them at their delightful best with mum and dad. You can't miss our golden pheasant if you see him, with his very brightly coloured plummage, yellow crown and lower back - but he is a shy soul!

And in our new avery you can see young zebra finch chicks flying around alongside canaries, quail and sparrows.

And that's not all, our new baby guinea pigs and ducklings are also too cute to miss.

JUNE 2009

Five Stars for Butterfly Café!

The Butterfly Café at Studley Grange was recently awarded 5 stars for its excellent hygiene after an inspection by Wiltshire County Council.

A 5 Star Rating is the top award where excellent hygiene conditions are found and where there is a high standard of compliance with food legislation.

Our café offers full menu includes a wide range of main meals, all day breakfasts, sandwiches, baguettes and jacket potatoes, as well as additional speciality dishes on our ‘Daily Specials’ board.

MARCH 2009

Meet Iggy Our New Arrival!

Meet Iggy our new arrival. Iggy is a green iguana and is 13 years old. She is free to wander around the tropical house, but can often be seen in her high rise accommodation, either eating, people watching or having a siesta. She is 39 inches ( 100 cm ) long.

Although called green iguanas, these animals are actually variable in colour. They originate from Central and South America, Mexico, south to the Tropic of Capricorn in Paraguay and South East Brazil. Green Iguanas are arboreal lizards that live high in the tree canopy. This tree dwelling habit allows them to bask in the sunshine, rarely coming down except when females dig burrows to lay eggs. No matter where they inhabit, they prefer to be around water as they are excellent swimmers and will dive beneath the surface to avoid predators.

Iguanas can live up to 20 years in captivity. In the wild they are thought to live only to around 8 years of age.

They are mainly herbivorous, eating green leafy plants and ripe fruits. But will occasionally eat a small amount of carrion and invertebrates. Iguanas are exothermic. Their body temperature is mainly dependent upon the environmental temperature. Low temperatures can inhibit their appetite and digestion.

DECEMBER 2008

Chernobyl Children visit Butterfly World!

Studley Grange played host to a special group of guests over the Christmas period as 16 children from Chernobyl enjoyed an afternoon at Butterfly World.

Visiting on the 27th December, the children enjoyed a free tour of the Butterfly sanctuary itself and got a chance to see the wonderful variety of tropical insects and creatures currently on show.

The group also enjoyed a brief visit to Pop in and Paint, situated in the Studley Grange Craft Village, as well as a buffet in the Studley Grange Party Room.

"It's been wonderful to welcome them," said Studley Grange owner Tony Miller, "they all seemed to really enjoy their time here, which is fantastic."

The visit was organised by Gin McGiffin, who three years ago set up a swindon group to help children who have suffered the after effects of the Chernobyl disaster.

Approximately 15 families in Swindon host 40 children a year from Belarus.

The children chosen are the most impoverished and often neglected as parents struggle with deprivation.

For more information on the Chernobyl Children Lifeline charity is available via the link below.

Chernobyl Children Lifeline - website

NOVEMBER 2008

Longleat comes to Butterfly World!

Studley Grange were delighted to welcome some new friends this month - 100 butterflies from Longleat Safari Park!

Kim Tucker (pictured) and Ian Turner from Longleat visited us last week to release their butterflies into our greenhouse, because their butterfly house closes for winter.

We, of course, we're all too happy to say hello to some spectactular new species including Caligo (owls), Papilio (swallowtails), Gretas (glasswings) which visitors visitors have been watching flying around our butterfy enclosure since they arrived.

The safari park also sent over 50 assorted pupae for us to keep, which will soon be hatching into butterflies.

So come and visit us soon to see them!

SEPTEMBER 2008

Two of our banana plants now have large hands of bananas on them!

JULY 2008

Studley Grange are pleased to announce the launch of their new website, which you are now on!

Providing up-to-date information on all that the Craft Village and Butterfly World offer, we hope you are enjoying using it, and we hope you can pay us a visit very soon.

JUNE 2008

Our Golden Pheasant and White Golden Pheasant have hatched chicks this week. Have so far counted four chicks. Also some new babies in in the guinea pig enclosure.

OCTOBER 2007

The animal paddock cricket team was out for a duck today. Well 10 ducks to be more precise. Come and see the latest members to arrive at the small animal paddock.

SEPTEMBER 2007

Have you ever seen bananas growing on a tree? Well nows your chance. A "hand" of bananas can be seen in our main flight area.

Studley Grange Garden & Leisure Park, Hay Lane, Wroughton, Swindon, Wilts, SN4 9QT

Visitor Hotline: 01793 852 400 or click to email