attractiOns & museums


Colchester Castle closes for £4.2m redevelopment


Colchester Castle in Essex closed its doors to the public on 6 January in order for a £4.2m redevelopment project to get underway. Te castle, which will reopen in Easter


2014, requires roof repairs, a heating upgrade, improved disability access, improved collections care for objects on display and improvements to the visitor experience. New displays will present the archaeology and history of Colchester from the origins of the town in the Iron Age to the Civil War Siege in 1648. Te Colchester and Ipswich Museum


Service hopes the redevelopment will see locals make repeat visits to the attraction and states it will leave visitors in no doubt Colchester was the first capital of Britain. Te castle will temporarily reopen this


Easter for visitors to see it cleared of its con- tents. Details: http://lei.sr?a=H9V7H


£4m investment for Oakwood park


Oakwood Theme Park in Pembrokeshire, Wales, has announced that it will be investing more than £4m in its facilities ahead of the 2013 summer season. The investment will see


a new restaurant and café, family park area, themed retail areas and series of new rides and experiences at the Pembrokeshire attraction, which includes more than 30 rides and experiences set in 80 acres of countryside. A family-friendly facility


Te park currently has more than 30 rides - including the Speed coaster


will include baby-changing facilities, high chairs and microwaves. Park director Dominic Jones said the invest-


ment is the largest the park had seen in a decade and was a response to visitor feedback. He said the development would be a major


boost for the local economy and create a num- ber of new jobs.


“Tis will be the latest new attraction of its


kind in Wales and is the first phase in an ambi- tious and ongoing programme of investment over the coming years.” Full details of the new attraction will be


released early in 2013 and work is set to begin in the next couple of weeks.


Wales’ coal museum installs solar panels


Wales’ national coal mining museum will get a boost from cleaner solar energy in an effort to reduce energy bills and its carbon footprint. Big Pit, which is also a working coal mine,


Te three rhinos are ZUFARI’s first residents


Rhinos take up residence at Chessington’s new ZUFARI


Te first inhabitants of Chessington World of Adventures’ new themed land, ZUFARI: Ride into Africa, have arrived. Te Surrey theme park is now home to


three white rhinos, which have come from zoos in Holland, France and Portugal, necessitating the need for the zookeepers to learn commands in all languages. Over the next few weeks the rhino will


be joined by other animals including Rothschild giraffes, greater flamingos, bles- bok, Nile lechwe and Grevy’s zebra. ZUFARI will be a theme park adventure


crossed with a safari experience. Visitors will take a safari truck expedition into an African kingdom, where a specialist conser- vation team have stumbled on a previously undiscovered land. Guests will enter an interactive pre-show cinema experience to be briefed on the story, before forming a team and jumping aboard an off-road vehi- cle to head into the African outback.


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has installed 200 photovoltaic solar panels on its museum building in Blaenafon. A second museum, Te National Collection


Centre in Nantgarw, has also had 200 panels added to its roof. Along with Big Pit it is part of the National


Museum Wales and together the build- ings’ solar panels will save the organisation 5m kWh in power over 25 years and 44,813kg of CO2. Big Pit museum manager Peter Walker said the museum would benefit from reductions in energy bills and a return from the Feed in Tariff. “Coal is such an important part of Wales’


heritage and yet green energy will play a major part in its future. A solar powered coal min- ing museum is a fantastic way to celebrate this national journey.”


Te attraction includes a fully operational coal mine Te project was completed by Warm Wales,


which provides energy advice, installations, community regeneration, project manage- ment, surveying, architecture and planning expertise. Details: http://lei.sr?a=8g6M3


HMS Caroline gets £1m lifeline to become museum


Te last surviving First World War ship, HMS Caroline, has been given a £1m boost for urgent repair works with plans in the pipeline to turn the vessel into a floating museum. Te grant to the National Museum of the Royal Navy (NMRN) from the National


Read Leisure Opportunities online: www.leisureopportunities.co.uk/digital


Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF), will enable works to make the Belfast ship, built in 1914, wind and watertight and to remove asbestos. Te restoration will be part of a two-phase


rescue plan, the next stage being the transfor- mation of the ship into a museum.


Twitter: @leisureopps © Cybertrek 2013


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