Another Tree And What A Choice To Buy

To celebrate my 50th birthday Nathalie arranged for us to spend a lovely weekend in Weymouth, whilst there We took the opportunity to visit one of my favourite places Monkey World.  What was different this time was as we drove into Wool I noticed this huge Monkey Puzzle that I'd failed to spot before!

A Huge Monkey Puzzle Tree Just Down The Road From Monkey World (BH6)

A while back me and Nathalie visited a trade nursery in Hatfield (Europlants) and I was delighted to find a whole range of Monkey Puzzle trees for the discerning gardener/designer to purchase for their clients.

Lots Of Monkey Puzzle Trees To Pick From

Monkey Puzzle Trees Seen - 53      Monkey Puzzle Trees Yet To See - 15

Monkey World Revisited

In an earlier post I told how it should come as no surprise that me being a Monkey Puzzle tree nut went hand in hand with my love of monkeys. I recounted how we had visited the wonderful Monkey World in Dorset and seen at least 1 Monkey Puzzle tree but I couldn't for the life of me remember how many I'd seen (too excited by all the furry loveliness around me to count). Well as supporters of the park me and Nathalie were lucky enough to take part in one of their sleep overs at the end of the summer, where I'd be able to do a proper tally of their trees.

The sleepover involves pitching a tent in a sectioned off part of their car park where you spent the night. As part of the sleepover you get to stay in Monkey World after it closes where you're lucky enough to see the monkeys settling down to sleep before you're treated to some wonderful food and and evening's entertainment.  A night round the camp fire finishes off a very special day that is followed the next morning with a huge breakfast and access to the park before it opens to the public. Being able to observe these wonderful animals as they meet a new day is very special indeed and the sight of the gibbon pairs reaffirming their love for each other by singing their morning love songs together will stay with me forever. Two of the gibbons will feature on BBC1's Animals in Love on Sunday 1st February at 6pm.

Anyway back to the Monkey Puzzle trees, there turns out to be 5 trees in all, though we could quite easily have missed some but as we will no doubt be back very soon I'll update if there find are any more.

Monkey World Monkey Puzzle Tree (BH1)

Monkey World Monkey Puzzle Tree 2 (BH2)

Monkey World Monkey Puzzle Tree 3 (BH3)

Monkey World Monkey Puzzle Tree 4 (BH4)

Monkey World Monkey Puzzle Tree 5 (BH5)

Whilst at Monkey world I was able to see the Cherry tree I had planted in memory of my mum for the first time (sadly Monkey Puzzle trees weren't an option).

My Mum's Cherry Tree At Monkey World

Monkey Puzzle Trees Seen - 48       Monkey Puzzle Trees Yet To See - 2

Monkey World Where Else?

It shouldn't come as a surprise that someone who loves Monkey Puzzle trees so much also has a ridiculous love of monkeys too. In order to sate my monkey obsession last August me and Nathalie went down to Dorset to pay a visit to the amazing Monkey World. Anyone who has watched the TV programme Monkey Life will know that Monkey World is a sanctuary for over 250 primates set in woodlands in Dorset - as they say "Monkey World assists governments around the world to stop the smuggling of primates from the wild. At the Centre refugees of this illegal trade as well as those that have suffered abuse or neglect are rehabilitated into natural living groups." It is a place dedicated to helping these poor animals and to help them regain some form of normality for the rest of their lives. It is truly depressing that in this day and age the human species can still treat such magnificent animals with such cruelty and disregard but then again it is great to know there are people like those who work at and run Monkey World prepared to do something about it.

We spent a wonderful long weekend camping beneath the stars right next door to Monkey World, which had the added bonus of being able to hear the gibbons sing their love songs at daybreak. The visit itself was more than I could hope for and to top it all off amongst all the lovely trees inside Monkey World we were delighted to spot a sweet little Monkey Puzzle tree, sadly I neglected to take any photos of it but will rectify that next time I visit.

Monkey Puzzle Trees Seen - 4        Monkey Puzzle Trees Yet To See - 0