Braggington Zoo (Formerly Braggington Bird Farm Zoo) , Located between Welford on Avon and Dorsington , Warwickshire (1965 - 1968 ) Mr and Mrs Herbert William (Bill) Webber set up this establishment in 1965 in the 2 1/2 Acre garden of their newly purchased 16th Century Farm House in Braggington ... The original name of the Zoo was Braggington Bird Farm Zoo ... By August 1966 there had been built 70 Aviaries in the grounds By Early 1967 the Zoo was now known as Braggington Zoo and admission price was 2 Shillings ... The collection at this time included a Himalayan Bear named Bruin , 2 Russian Bears (which had come from Coventry Zoo named Pinky and Perky) Sheep , Goats , Foxes , Squirrels , Monkeys , over 4000 Finches , Macaws , Parrots , Cockatoos , A Falcon ,Flamingo and 40 Species of Duck In February 1967 the Falcon escaped In January 1968 the Webbers discovered that their original planning permission did not permit them to keep any wild animals apart from Birds and they had to Apply to Stratford Rural Council to extend their plans to include Wild Animals ... Stratford Rural Council intimated that they would be recommending to the County Plans Committee that the application be refused .... In April 1968 in the Zoo's Advert it stated that there was a Colourful Collection of Tropical Birds and Fish .. the admission price was now 2 shillings and 6d and all Exhibits were for sale In July 1968 a Monkey was born at the zoo and it was called Pepe (born to Patricia and Peter) .. This increased the number of Monkeys to 5 ... also penguins were mentioned for the first time ... By August 1968 the Zoo was put up for sale and the House and Zoo had an asking price of £15000 ... This it was reported was due to Mr Webber suffering serious health issues since a serious car accident in 1967 By September 1968 a public enquiry set for 2nd October 1968 in relation to the Planning refusal to extend planning permission was cancelled ... by the Webbers and they dropped their plans to Extend the Zoo . The image shows Mr Webber with a pair of Cranes at the Zoo This was the last reported information that I can find about the Zoo and I guess the Zoo closed down in 1968
Typical of the kind of thing that was starting to really proliferate in the UK at the time...but ive never heard of this place I must admit. Possibly this is because it existed just before the early seventies spate of books detailing Britain`s zoos. Its worth noting re.the asking price for the zoo that around the same time my grandmother sold her house and an acre of land for £600....in West Yorkshire, granted.
My family bought the farm which included the land we now occupy, just a year later - for £240 per acre including the farm house and all buildings - against the strong advice of the financial wisdom of the day, which considered land and property to be a very bad investment...
