Wollaton Hall & Deer Park has been recognised with a VisitEngland award for going the extra mile in providing a quality visitor experience. The award issued by VisitEngland Visitor Attraction Quality Scheme (VAQAS) aims to reward and celebrate attractions that give all visitors an entertaining and interactive visit.
As an established heritage site, Wollaton Hall & Deer Park has long been a much-loved and treasured location renowned for great days out, from its history and legacy as an original Elizabethan mansion to a modern visitor attraction including a Natural History museum, walled garden, a park of deer and other wildlife, with its exhibitions and events for the whole family.
With its most recent exhibition ‘Titus: T. rex is King’, Wollaton Hall has pushed the boundaries of telling great stories, giving visitors an entertaining day out and a once-in-a-lifetime experience. This exhibition tells the tale of a 12-metre T. rex skeleton that lived 67 million years ago – and since being unearthed in the Montana Badlands of the USA in 2018, is now filling a room, skull to tail, inside Wollaton Hall – tail, bite and all!
Visitors can see the T. rex skeleton and discover the excavation, curation, examination, rebuild and final reveal, across four gallery rooms, as well as dispel some myths about this immense iconic T. rex. It has high-tech digital and interactive virtual media displays that immerse visitors in the extraordinary journey, so they can ‘Create Titus,’ ‘Dig for Titus’ and ‘Dissect Titus’ to discover the awe-inspiring T. rex in a visual and engaging way – it’s one not to be missed by dinosaur fans of all ages!
Of the 76 visitor attractions in the UK recognised by VisitEngland, Wollaton Hall has received its VisitEngland ‘Best Told Story’ award, and it further recognises the renowned and popular features and stories of the hall and park, including its conservation projects to protect its wildlife and gardens, its management of the 500-acre park boasting wild deer that freely roam the grounds, along with volunteer-run initiatives to engage visitors and residents. Many of its projects are to ensure the heritage site can keep striving toward its vision to work more sustainably, including the volunteers growing organic vegetables in the Walled Garden, team members growing herbs in the courtyard planters for use in the café, and reducing mowing and increasing bulb and tree planting to improve biodiversity in the park.
Nottingham City Council’s Portfolio Holder for Leisure, Culture and Schools, Cllr Eunice Campbell-Clark said: “The news of Wollaton Hall’s VisitEngland award is testament to the hard work by the team at the museum and is well deserved.
“The heritage site has risen to the challenges created by Covid and continued to safely attract and engage visitors. The team at Wollaton have also brought an innovative and interactive dinosaur exhibition to the people of Nottingham, which has proven extremely popular with visitors.”
Nottingham City Council’s Chief Operating Officer – Museums & Heritage Sites, Rachel James said: “We are thrilled to have won a VisitEngland award at Wollaton Hall & Deer Park. We have an amazing team of staff and volunteers who work tirelessly to give a warm welcome and excellent service so it is great this has been recognised.”
Visit Nottinghamshire’s Marketing and Communications Manager, Kinga Kapias said: “We’re really delighted to see the team at Wollaton Hall scoop VisitEngland’s Best Told Story Award. The team there work so hard to bring Wollaton Hall and its exhibitions to life, they’re a credit to Nottingham’s tourism industry and it’s brilliant to see them get the recognition they deserve.”
To plan your visit go to the Wollaton Hall website: www.wollatonhall.org.uk or discover the latest Titus: T. rex is King exhibition, go to: www.wollatonhall.org.uk/titus