Carolyn’s World Of Animals
A field full of Christmas trees and a love of animals was the start of an exciting project for Carolyn and Edward
Carolyn and Edward Dorrell moved to Hoo farmin Telford in November 1988 after their farmland was taken over for development.
“The site was a Christmas tree plantation when we moved here,” explains Carolyn. “We had to bring our animals and thought we would get rid of the trees and return the area to pasture. So we put notices up saying Cut or dig your own Christmas trees.
“It went mad! People came down for their trees and kept opening barn doors to see what was inside and then the animals would shoot out, but we began to think that we mightg be able to make a business of that.
“The following year people wanted to come in the summer to see the animals and it progressed from there into a tourist attraction.”
Hoo Farm Animal Kingdom was established in 1991 and became fully zoo licensed in 2008. Today there are more than 100 species of animals, from otters and owls to wallabies. The venue is an award-winning tourist attraction and welcomed 45,000 visitors last year.
In this 25th anniversary year, Carolyn has also been delighted to receive a Women in Tourism award, but business aside, the love of the animals remains at the heart of what the Dorrells do.
“I still do all the hand rearingre of the babies in the farmhousefa kitchen. I’ve rearedre baby lambs, foxes, raccoons,ra coatis, servals andan meerkats. When my son WilliamW was born I had fifteenfif lambs on the bottle so I was feeding them then comingc in and mixing up milkm and feeding him, then goingg back out to do more feedsfe with the animals!” A national outbreak of
The love and care of the animals remains at the heart of what they do
Foot and Mouth in 2001 came within miles of the venue and forced a closure to visitors which almost bankrupted the Dorrells. Carolyn came up with the idea of introducing more exotic species that would be less susceptible, although some have presented challenges of their own.
“One year when it was very cold, the electric went. Snakes and lizards can’t get too cold or they hibernate too deeply, so I put three snakes in the warmbottom oven of the Rayburn in the kitchen, hoping that we had caught them quickly enough. I left the door open and I was busy in the kitchen when I heard this hissing noise and there they were, all awake and fine. I don’t like snakes much so they were quickly returned to their vivarium!
“Will has now joined us as a partner and my daughters have worked here as well. We decided a while ago that we would run a nativity. So we all get dressed up and invite children from the audience to help. Then we bring our animals in. It’s chaos! The children want to run back to their parents and the animals would suddenly do a wee in the middle of everything. But people seemed to love it because they never knew quite what was going to happen!”
Last year, Whisper the donkey put the nativity plans into disarray when he ate a string of Christmas lights and then tinsel and baubles decorating the nativity manger. But having worked with animals for years, the Dorrells have learned to take everything in their stride.
“On one occasion my daughter was narrating the nativity and ‘Mary’ and ‘Joseph’ fell out and had quite a fight. We sat them at opposite ends of the stable and carried on but then the llama, who was standing in for the camel, decided that he was in love with the donkey and started to make all these amorous noises!
“Animals remain at the heart of what we do. This is very much a family business and we are so lucky to live and work at what we enjoy.”