From Plymouth Live
"Tony Flower – who died in 1997 at the age of 68 after a two-year battle against cancer – established the National Shire Horse Centre in 1978 and quickly built it up into one of the most popular tourist attractions in the region, visited by more than 300,000 people every year.
Mr Flower’s aim was to let the public see traditional farming methods at close quarters, and he used the horses to gather oats and hay on the 60-acre park.
At its peak the centre employed 100 people, opening summer and winter, and having an annual turnover of £1million, but in 1989 it went into receivership.
In 2006 Plymouth developer Michael Hockin, chairman of Cattedown-based London and Westcountry Estates, wanted to build 16 homes and one apartment – most of which would have been conversions of existing buildings.
Its plans for expansion had been rejected by the local authority, and as the recession bit, visitor numbers declined.
The centre was sold off to the Hockin family for £430,000.
It was also suggested the site could be home to a nine-hole golf course and pool.
They brought in entrepreneur Tim Spittle to run the centre in January 2000, but eventually the park was forced to close.
However, the plans did not move forward and two years later the only development on the site was the arrest of a man growing cannabis in a caravan.
By 2017 The Herald was reporting on how the centre’s future was shrouded in mystery."
I wanted to take pictures of inside the buildings but soon as we stepped in the alarm went off. So thats all I have got.
And my favourite picture
"Tony Flower – who died in 1997 at the age of 68 after a two-year battle against cancer – established the National Shire Horse Centre in 1978 and quickly built it up into one of the most popular tourist attractions in the region, visited by more than 300,000 people every year.
Mr Flower’s aim was to let the public see traditional farming methods at close quarters, and he used the horses to gather oats and hay on the 60-acre park.
At its peak the centre employed 100 people, opening summer and winter, and having an annual turnover of £1million, but in 1989 it went into receivership.
In 2006 Plymouth developer Michael Hockin, chairman of Cattedown-based London and Westcountry Estates, wanted to build 16 homes and one apartment – most of which would have been conversions of existing buildings.
Its plans for expansion had been rejected by the local authority, and as the recession bit, visitor numbers declined.
The centre was sold off to the Hockin family for £430,000.
It was also suggested the site could be home to a nine-hole golf course and pool.
They brought in entrepreneur Tim Spittle to run the centre in January 2000, but eventually the park was forced to close.
However, the plans did not move forward and two years later the only development on the site was the arrest of a man growing cannabis in a caravan.
By 2017 The Herald was reporting on how the centre’s future was shrouded in mystery."
I wanted to take pictures of inside the buildings but soon as we stepped in the alarm went off. So thats all I have got.
And my favourite picture
