*THIS HAS NOW CLOSED PERMANENTLY**
The monsters of Widmer End have relocated and found a new home at the Monster Zoo. Local farmer AJ has given the monsters a home at the forest school on his land. You’ll find over 70 monsters in the Monster Zoo, with new additions being added all the time. Plus there’s an added bonus of them being next to a field of pigs with some gorgeous little piglets.
Widmer Monsters
The project was started by local Steve, who wanted to create a community arts project for local families in the area. The idea behind it was to give the children something fun to look out for when they were out for a walk. Throughout each lockdown it grew in popularity with new monsters being added by local families all the time. At it’s the peak the trail in the woodlands had around 80 monsters!
Unfortunately the land owners requested that all monsters be removed from the woodland path as the increased footfall was affecting wildlife and turning it into a mud bath.
New Home at Widmer End Monster Zoo
Luckily farmer AJ came to the rescue and offered the monsters a new home at the forest school on his land. It’s the perfect home for the monsters as it’s an enclosed space, with plenty of room! There are currently over 70 monsters in the Monster Zoo and the effort that people have gone to in making them is incredible.
Where Is it?
The red triangle on the map below shows where the Monster Zoo is. Free parking is available at Hazlemere Recreation ground. From there it’s less than 1km to the Widmer Monsters. At an incredibly slow toddler pace it took us around 25 minutes. I’m sure you could do it much quicker though!
When you walk through the Recreation Ground you’ll see a red bin at the end of the field and the path through is just to the left of this.
You’ll see the pigs when you’re walking down the field, so just head towards these and the Monster Zoo is just after the pigs.
The route to the Monster Zoo is across farmland and it is very important that you DO NOT walk on the farm fields. Thousands of pounds worth of crops were damaged last year by people trampling them. The route to the farm is on private land, not a public footpath, so please stick to these rules otherwise the Monster Zoo risks being closed down.
Be warned that there are a couple of sections that are incredible muddy. It’s definitely not a buggy friendly walk and you need wellies.
Playground at Hazlemere Recreation Ground
To incentivise your little ones to leave and make the walk back there is a great playground at Hazlemere Recreation Ground.
Best bits: The Monster Zoo is great fun! The whole site is full of monsters or all different shapes and sizes. They are hanging from the trees, hiding in cages and tucked away in every nook and cranny. Your little ones will absolutely love discovering them.
Worst bits: It’s a bit of a trek to get there for little legs.
Cost: Free
Tickets: N/A
Pram friendly: No, the walk there is cross country and very muddy in parts. There’s no way you’d get there with a pram.
Bike & scooter friendly: No
Covid measures: There’s plenty of space on the site to space out and keep a safe distance from other people.
Location & parking: I recommend parking at Hazlemere Recreation Ground as you then have the playground there to enjoy after. Under no circumstances park at Widmer Village Hall as parking is not permitted here.
Sat nav: HP15 7QW