Hi All, Not been on here for ages, but have a quick (hopefully quick lol) question. I know Ashover Zoo used to be called Pans Gardens, but whereabouts in Ashover did it used to be? I keep having drives over there most weeks, and been searching for any information online for months, and still can't find any more information than it was called Pans Gardens. I know there's nothing left of the site, but would love to know the address and whereabouts in Ashover it actually was. Cheers, Sal
PG Pan's Garden was at Hilltop - on the left going up the hill, just before Hilltop Farm in the grounds of a large house which may have been called Hilltop House previously.
As a matter of interest I've just received a copy of Jeremy and Amy-the extraordinary true story of one man and his orang-utan,which I'm ashamed to say I only recently found out about,,in spite of it being published in 2010.It is about Jeremy Keeling of Monkey World in Dorset,who is the son of Clinton Keeling,the founder of Pans Garden.There's a certain amount of info about his childhood and early life there,and if you wanted to know anything about it,he may be the person to ask.I noticed that the producer of the new Attenborough series Seven worlds,is called Jonny Keeling-coincidence or a relative I wonder?
Clinton Keeling was a regular lecturer at my school when I was a child. I borrowed a book regularly from the school library and have just found a copy on eBay. 'Ask of the Beasts' was written by Jill Keeling and tells the story of their home-made zoo.
My schooldays, too, had Keeling visits as real highlights. Odd, difficult, rude - but he was also a fantastically entertaining speaker.
