Leprechaun Luck

If you go down to the woods today............ you might be lucky enough to see one of our handsome leprechauns!

But, just what are leprechauns? And where on earth does that funny name come from?

Well, they are a type of fairy that originally comes from Irish folk stories. They are usually depicted as old men and they wear red or green coats and big hats!

They are especially good at making and fixing shoes, which they do in return for big gold coins that they hide in their secret pot at the end of the rainbow. But, they are notoriously mischievous and they love to play practical jokes on the other fairies.

Legend has it that if a human catches one, they will be given three wishes in exchange for the leprechaun's freedom. But we don't know about that - we're yet to catch one here in Gypsy wood!

See if you can spot one in the woods today!

What's in a name?

The origin of the word "leprechaun" is thought to be varied, but one explanation could be that it comes from an Old Irish word luporchan, which is a mixture of the words for small (lu) and body (corps).

Thought for today!

"Do you believe in fairies? If you do... clap your hands!"

From Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie - Scottish writer and dramatist (1860 - 1937)

 

 

image by Janny Sandholm on wikicommons

 

 

Come and find our fairies at Gypsy Wood Park!

 

 

 

Pygmy Goats

Come along to Gypsy Wood Park and meet some of the beautiful Pygmy Goats that live here.

Peanut, Acora, Poppy, Robbie, Gizmo, Lexi, Hector, Zebedee, Gypsy, Charlotte, Jay, Eccles, Mrs P and Cariad are all full of beans and love to race around their grassy pen.

Pygmy Goats at Gypsy Wood Park

Pygmy Goats are native to Africa and are traditionally used for milking of for meat. But, here at Gypsy Wood, all our pampered Pygmys have to do is have fun and look pretty - the two things they're best at!

Pygmy Goats are hardy animals, so when the Welsh weather gets chilly, it doesn't bother them at all. They like having things to jump on, because they have a big bounce and a spring in their little step. They aren't very good at being on their own, which is why we keep lots of them together. They're all the best of friends. They are also naturally friendly and good natured animals, so they make great pets.

Beautiful Zebedee as a baby - born Summer 2010

Did you know.....?

....Pygmy Goats can live to be as old as 15 years.

....Pygmy Goats like to eat grains, oats and yummy greens.

....Pygmy Goats are naturally affectionate animals once they trust their human carers.

Gypsy Wood's Train

Choo Choo, all aboard!!

When you visit Gypsy Wood Park, you won't want to miss our fabulous outdoor railway.

Gypsy Wood's brilliant Railway was designed and built in 2004, but is has been extended and altered a lot since then. The railway is one of Gypsy Wood's most popular attractions.  

The scale is approximately 1:22.5 and it runs on a 45mm gauge track. It was made for us by a specialist company in Germany, although over the years the staff have added and built some items for us.

The track lay runs for over 500 meters over eight different circuits. Our trains cover some impressive distances over a season - the train on the main circuit choo-choos almost 8 miles a day, which adds up to about 54 miles a week - that's a lot of miles in a whole summer season!

The railway is old fashioned and simple, because it isn't controlled by computers or wi-fi, but by a big range of traditional railway controllers. It makes it easy to fix a problem, but there are what seems like miles and miles of wire!

If you visit Gypsy Wood Park, take a snap of you by the railway, pop it on our facebook page (click here) and we'll put our favourites up on the blog!

Thought for Today

 

"Just living is not enough," said the butterfly fairy. "One must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower".

 

Hans Christian Anderson - Danish writer and author of fairy stories (1805 - 1875)

 

 

image by rosyn on sxc.hu

 

Ghost Forest

We've been totally fascinated by this amazing story at Gypsy Wood Park this week. It's the tale of how 10 ENORMOUS rainforest tree trunks have ended up in South Wales!

The stunning trees are part of an environmental art exhibition to highlight the problems and the alarming rate of deforestation of the world's rainforests. They have been on display in London and Copenhagen but have now found a permanent home in the National Botanic Garden of Wales in Carmarthenshire.

The exhibition will be called Size of Wales because the project aims to protect an area roughly the size of Wales (2 million hectares...) of forests in Africa and South America.

Here's one of the tree stumps on display recently at Trafalgar Square in London.

Image by RSones on wikicommons

You can see lots of pictures on the BBC website here and view the full story here

One week countdown

We're getting pretty giddy here at Gypsy Wood Park and the countdown has started!

There's less than one week to go until Woody's brilliant party.

Don't forget to mark it in your diary! There's loads and loads of things going on so you won't want to miss it.

We hope you've all been practising those hula-hoop moves. And please would all our lovely readers help us out - can you do a sundance for us and keep all your fingers crossed for lots of sunshine? We think Woody deserves a great big sunny day!

We can't wait to see you there.

27th August at Gypsy Wood Park, from 11am.

If you have any questions or queries about the event, give us a call (01286 673 133), drop us a line (info@gypsywood.co.uk) or leave a comment in the box below.