| Chestnut Centre | |
|---|---|
  | |
| Type | wildlife park |
| Location | near Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, UK |
| Coordinates | 53°20′05″N1°53′15″W / 53.33472°N 1.88750°W |
| Opened | 1984 |
| Closed | 2017 |
| Website | https://www.chestnutcentre.co.uk/ |
The Chestnut Centre (or in full, Chestnut Centre Otter, Owl and Wildlife Park) was a wildlife park near Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, UK. It opened in 1984, and closed in 2017.
Carol and Roger Heap, the owners of the park, started looking after a pair of Asian small-clawed otters in the 1970s. In 1981, they were able to buy Chestnut Farm, which was adjacent to their home. Their eldest son was also given a pair of tawny owls to look after around the same time. They opened the park in 1984. In the late 1990s, with Roger's retirement, it was operated more as a business with marketing and visits. [1]
It had around 45,000 visitors per year, including 8,000 on school trips. [1] It also had a tea room and souvenir shop. [2]
The centre was the first place where giant otters were bred in captivity. [1] it also was involved with breeding programmes for Scottish wildcats, European polecats, and Eurasian otters. [3] It had more than 10 species of deer, four species of otter, and pine martens and Scottish wildcats. [2]
The park closed at the end of 2017, after 30 years of operation, when the Heaps semi-retired. All animals were relocated to the New Forest Wildlife Park, which is operated by one of their sons, [1] except for two species of owl which went to the National Centre for Birds of Prey at Duncombe Park, operated by their other son. This was because there was little room for expansion at the Chestnut Centre, but there was at the New Forest. [3]
The centre was put up for sale in 2021, for an asking price of £850,000, including the Grade II listed house, a barn that was formerly used for classrooms, and 1.75 acres of land (with 27 acres sold separately). It also had planning permission to convert the barn to a house, and build an earth sheltered Eco House. [4]
Derbyshire is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south and west, and Cheshire to the west. Derby is the largest settlement, and Matlock is the county town.
Glossop is a market town in the borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, England, 15 miles (24 km) east of Manchester, 24 miles (39 km) north-west of Sheffield and 32 miles (51 km) north of Matlock. Near Derbyshire's borders with Cheshire, Greater Manchester, South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire, between 150 and 300 metres above sea level, it is bounded by the Peak District National Park to the south, east and north. In 2021, it had a population of 33,340.
High Peak is a local government district with borough status in Derbyshire, England, covering a high moorland plateau in the Dark Peak area of the Peak District National Park. The district stretches from Holme Moss in the north to Sterndale Moor in the south, and from Hague Bar in the west to Bamford in the east. The population of the borough taken at the 2011 Census was 90,892. The borough is unusual in having two administrative centres for its council, High Peak Borough Council; the offices are in Buxton and Glossop. Other towns include Chapel-en-le-Frith, Hadfield, New Mills and Whaley Bridge.
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Duffield Frith was, in medieval times, an area of Derbyshire in England, part of that bestowed upon Henry de Ferrers by King William, controlled from his seat at Duffield Castle. From 1266 it became part of the Duchy of Lancaster and from 1285 it was a Royal Forest with its own Forest Courts.
Chapel-en-le-Frith railway station serves the Peak District town of Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, England. It is 20+1⁄2 miles south east of Manchester Piccadilly on the Buxton Line from Manchester. It was built in 1863 for the London & North Western Railway, on its line from Whaley Bridge to Buxton as an extension of the Stockport, Disley and Whaley Bridge Railway.
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Chapel-en-le-Frith is a town and civil parish in the Borough of High Peak in Derbyshire, England.
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Chapel en le Frith was a rural district in Derbyshire, England, from 1894 to 1974. It was named after the town of Chapel-en-le-Frith and created under the Local Government Act 1894.
Chinley, Buxworth and Brownside is a civil parish within the High Peak district, which is in the county of Derbyshire, England. Partially rural with several villages contained within, its population was 2,794 residents in the 2021 census. The parish is 150 miles (240 km) north west of London, 35 miles (56 km) north west of the county city of Derby, and 1+1⁄3 miles (2.1 km) north of the nearest market town of Chapel-en-le-Frith. Being close to the edge of the county border, it shares a boundary with the parishes of Chapel-en-le-Frith, Edale, Hayfield, New Mills and Whaley Bridge. A substantial portion of the parish is within the Peak District national park.
Chapel-en-le-Frith is a civil parish in the High Peak district of Derbyshire, England. The parish contains 76 listed buildings that are recorded in the National Heritage List for England. Of these, two are listed at Grade II*, the middle of the three grades, and the others are at Grade II, the lowest grade. The parish contains the town of Chapel-en-le-Frith and the surrounding area, including the smaller settlements of Dove Holes, Combs, Tunstead Milton, and Whitehough. Most of the listed buildings are houses, cottages and associated structures, farmhouses and farm buildings. The other listed buildings include churches and items in a churchyard, a market cross, public houses, two tombstones in a Friends' Burial Ground, a milestone and a milepost, bridges, a set of stocks, structures associated with the Peak Forest Tramway, schools, a mounting block incorporating a dog's kennel, a railway station, and two war memorials.
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