Overview

This is a fun and interesting visitor attraction in Lasswade, Edinburgh. It has a range of butterflies that you walk amongst with beautiful plants and foliage. There are also insects, snakes, geckos, spiders, birds and chickens. It a great place for kids to see the range of butterflies, insects etc and enjoy handling and feeding them too.

Transport & Parking

There is a large carpark for this attraction especially as Dobbies Garden Centre is right across from it. We managed to park in the bays closest to the entrance.

Access

The entrance is step-free through a set of double doors. Once inside you’re immediately in the reception and gift shop. It’s a small area but enough space for moving around in my wheelchair between the displays. Once you had bought your tickets and ready to enter the butterfly and insect area, you’ll go through a door which has plastic strips hanging all the way down to prevent butterflies from escaping. Inside the butterfly area was accessible for my powered wheelchair. Some paths were slightly tighter than others but it was manageable. There was also a few little bridges to cross which again were accessible. There is also an area through the back with snakes, spiders, insect and geckos. There are handling and feeding opportunities as well. There is a sheltered area out the back, but we didn’t really see anything in the enclosures apart from chickens so I’m not sure if there is anything else in them. Again this area was all wheelchair accessible. It is quite warm in the butterfly area so make sure you have some water or take some breaks by going into the other rooms if you get too warm.

Toilets

The toilets are located outside accessible via a slight ramp. The toilets are cabin style. The accessible toilet was a decent size and had grabs bars and an emergency cord (which was tied up). The position of the waste bin could possibly get in wheelchair users way and prevent being able to move around easily.

Staff

The reception staff could have been a little more friendly and forthcoming about the concession and carer ticket prices. The other staff handling and taking care of the butterflies and animals were all very friendly, helpful and keen to tell us all about them.

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Photos