Wolds Wildlife Park is putting Horncastle on the map

Paws-ing for thought: Syas, a Bengal tiger, who is one of the many attractions at the Wildlife Park.

Rumour has it the last time Horncastle was headline news on national radio, petrol was threepence a gallon and you could enjoy a night on the town for two-and-six...and still have change for the journey home by steam train.

If you’d popped into the Bull Hotel and asked for tapas, the landlord would probably have pointed in the direction of the nearest sink!

In those days, there was no talk of tigers, lions, lemurs and wolves...not in a field off Hemingby Lane at any rate.

Andrew Riddel has changed that.

Centre (left) Sean Tucker, MD of Evergreen (Design and Project management for the park) with owners Andrew Riddel and Tracy Walters.

Up until last year, Mr Riddel was best known for his scrap metal business.

Calls to his office were usually connected with wrecked cars and skips.

Now, the caller is likely to be a reporter from a national newspaper...or the producer from Radio Two’s Jeremy Vine programme.

Mr Riddel’s wildlife park has certainly put Horncastle on the map.

A popular place: Some of the people who attended the open weekend at the Wolds Wildlife Park last month. The park has been inundated with messages of support and thanks since the event.

There is no doubt Mr Riddel would have preferred to shun the limelight.

However, it was always going to be difficult to keep a collection of more than 200 animals - including a Bengal tiger - quiet.

Throw in the fact a company wants to build houses in an adjacent field and it’s easy to see why sleepy old Horncastle has suddenly become the centre of attention.

It’s the stuff a Coronation Street scriptwriter dreams of.

The animals are already living at the park...some of them in impressive looking enclosures that Mr Riddel is still awaiting planning permission for.

It must be pointed out he has not broken the law.

There are plenty of examples of people submitting requests for retrospective planning permission - albeit perhaps not for a tiger enclosure.

Larkfleet/Allison Homes are far from happy. They have objected to Mr Riddel’s application for three enclosures.

They have raised issues about safety, noise and smells, claiming their new 80-odd dwelling development would be within 50 metres of the enclosures.

Mr Riddel has not taken their criticism lying down. He’s the type of man who calls a spade a spade...or a skip and skip for that matter.

He made his views crystal clear during an appearance on the Jeremy Vine show a couple of weeks ago.

After suggesting Larkfleet/Allison were rude for not coming on the programme - or speaking to him - he suggested that if they were that worried, they could buy the 42-acre site of the park and he’d ‘move somewhere else.’

“They could put 42 acres of houses on the land...see how people in Horncastle would like that,” was Mr Riddel’s parting shot.

Mr Riddel admits he can understand the concerns about his park.