Phone +44 1409 241435 | ||
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Address West Putford, Bradworthy EX22 7XE, UK Hours Closed now Wednesday10AM–5PMThursday10AM–5PMFriday10AM–5PMSaturday10AM–5PMSunday10AM–5PMMonday10AM–5PMTuesday10AM–5PM Similar The Milky Way, Wistlandpound Reservoir, Cobbaton Combat Collection, The Big Sheep, Braunton & District Museum | ||
Gnome reserve devon
The Gnome Reserve is a garden and tourist attraction at West Putford, near Bradworthy, Devon, England, presented as a pastoral refuge for garden gnomes.
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The reserve was established in 1979 by Ann Atkin, a former art student. According to her own account:
".. while painting birds in landscapes I came to what was like a T Junction in my painting development. I did not know whether to turn left or right as different elements of what I liked in painting appeared irreconcilably in opposite directions. It was very disturbing! Until – one day – a gnome appeared in my mind and seemed to say: ‘Don’t go left; don’t go right; you must dig / build your own road straight across.’..
She established the reserve on a 4-acre site, and remains the owner of the tourist attraction that also sells the gnomes. The reserve holds more than 2,000 gnomes, and is included in the Guinness Book of World Records. The four acre Reserve is also home to model pixies. The area includes woodlands, a stream, pond, meadow and wildflower garden with "about 250 labelled species of wild flowers, herbs, grasses and ferns." Photographs are encouraged; and gnome hats and fishing rods are loaned to visitors free of charge so they can blend in. Gnomes sometimes go missing. The Reserve has refused to sell gnomes with knives in their backs.