Our trip to the Tropical Butterfly House in North Anston, Sheffield, was a wet one. It RAINED! The rain didn't spoil our day though.
We arrived by bus which stops just outside the centre. Access is via a road with no walk ways so you do have to take extra care, especially on busy days. It wasn't too busy when we went because we chose to go in term time but the Dude was off because of the teacher strikes.
Entrance is accessible and 1 carer is admitted free with each paying disabled person. You can buy various animal feeds at the ticket office. We decided to buy a bundle of all the different types. I didn't find any of the centre inaccessible. All paths were easy for the wheelchair to be push over. Dude was able to see all the animals except the Meercats which where in their outside enclosure. He found it hard to get the meal worm feed over the wall to them too.
Finding a dry place to eat was at bit hard. I'm not sure if there was an indoor picnic area. We didn't find one and there wasn't signs that I could see. We opted to eat under the covered bit outside the toilet block by the play park and eating area. Good job I carry a camping stool and Dude owns a Trabasack which he was able to eat his lunch off. It also came in handy with balancing his animal feed whilst he fed the animals and again when he got the opportunity to hold a snake in the Butterfly House.
Getting around inside the Butterfly House was pretty easy. The staff were great too. Dude collared one when we were looking at the bugs and snakes and asked a million and one questions. He then brought a snake out for Dude to hold which I thought was very kind.
Unfortunately we didn't stay for very long because of the rain. There's only so much standing around in barns and going round the inside of the Butterfly House that you can take, so we opted to go home earlier than planned.
It was a great afternoon out though and we look forward to visiting again.
