ATTRACTIONS & MUSEUMS


3D print replicas to give close up view of exhibits


A set of artefacts going on display at the Museum of London have been replicated so visitors can get a hands-on look at them. Researchers from Birmingham City


University have scanned selected items from the 400-year-old hoard of jewellery discovered in a London cellar in 1912. Included in the collection is a 17th cen-


tury watch, which has been replicated using a 3D printer. Visitors will be able to handle copies of the copied items, something that will be of great benefit, particularly for the visually impaired.


Work to begin on Chester Zoo


Construction work will begin in August on Chester Zoo’s £30m Islands project. Te contract to build the


development was awarded to engineering company Laing O’Rourke following a nationwide tender process. Set to open in 2015, Islands


will be located in a previously unoccupied area of the zoo’s estate and will feature flora and fauna from the exotic islands of the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Bali, Sumatra, Sumba and Sulawesi. There will also be a new


Indonesian jungle house - one of the largest indoor zoo exhibits in the UK - which will act as the new home to Sumatran orang- utans, Sulawesi macaques and a new species for the zoo, the sunda gavial crocodile. Islands will be the first phase of the Zoo’s


Visitors were treated to snowing ice cream


Ice cream snow falls at Thorpe Park


Visitors at Torpe Park were treated to a unique experience recently, when the heav- ens opened and it started snowing ice cream. The ice cream snow, created by Miss


Cakehead - who has previously made an edible hotel out of cake, among various other edible PR stunts - contained real strawberry and vanilla ice cream, which fell Tursday morning in the shadow of the park’s Stealth roller coaster. Guests were alerted to an imminent


shower by a classic ice cream van jingle. Details: http://lei.sr?a=E1d5e


Radical new museum policy planned for Maidstone


Maidstone Council plans to commercialise its museums, while setting up a business team to cut the cost of the culture and lei- sure services that it operates. The town has three museums - The


Tyrwhitt Drake Museum of Carriages, Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regimental Museum and Maidstone Museum & Bentlif Art Gallery - all of which will be affected when the new policy comes into action. Te business team will adapt the cur-


rent museum business plan to generate additional revenue.


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ambitious, £225m Natural Vision scheme that has been in planning for several years. First announced in January 2009, the origi-


nal plans for Natural Vision included a £90m biodome - entitled Heart of Africa - as the first phase, but the project was put on hold indefi- nitely due to government cuts in 2011.


An artist’s impression of the exotic boat journey at the Islands project Simon Mann, Chester Zoo’s development


director, said: “Islands is a complex project that includes the creation of landscaping themed to each island, an exotic boat journey and world- class animal exhibits which marry the exact needs of our animals with the best experience for visitors. “We’re bringing these islands to life, right


here in the heart of leafy Cheshire, making the opportunity to visit these far-flung places a reality.” Details: http://lei.sr?a=r0G8B


Bristol’s new family attraction opens


The Wild Place Project, Bristol’s new family attrac- tion, that displays eco-systems from around the world, has opened to the public. Te new attraction, located


just off junction 17 of the M5, invites guests to visit some of the animals from Madagascar, east Africa and the Congo. The Bristol, Clifton and


West of England Zoological Society was given planning consent for the National Wildlife Conservation Park in 2010 and the opening of the Wild Place Project is the society’s first step towards what it hopes will become a “world-class vis- itor attraction”. Among the first exhibits to open is Discover


Madagascar, a home to three different lemur species: Mongoose lemur; Ring-tailed lemur; and Red-bellied lemur. It also features guinea fowl and African pygmy goats.


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


Te Wild Place Project displays eco-systems from around the world Elsewhere, the Edge of Africa exhibit allows


visitors to see zebras and eland roaming within the attraction’s grasslands. Te final exhibit is the Secret Congo, which


was given its name because it features Okapi, one of the last large mammals to be discov- ered. Details: http://lei.sr?a=i3R9V


Twitter: @leisureopps © CYBERTREK 2013


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