The World’s Biggest Gnome Collection?
When Ann Atkin started collecting gnomes in 1979 she had about six of the small and shy creatures. Now she runs The Gnome Reserve in Devon, one of the UK's more idiosyncratic tourist attractions where the world's largest collection of gnomes and pixies shares the four-acre grounds with wildflower garden. The reserve is laid out according to the various habitats that gnomes prefer, including (apparently) an airport, a motorbike scramble and a rocket launch as well as the more traditional horseshoe, fairground, birthday party and fishing pond.
More than 2000 gnomes live in the reserve, although the rarest and more fragile ones reside in sheltered accommodation, otherwise known as a museum, where gnomes dating back to the 1800s can be found. The exact number of gnomes in residence is unclear as they ‘come and go’ according to Ms Atkin, who often finds new gnomes have arrived after visitors have left for the day.
A visit to the Reserve is quite a complicated process - gnome hats and fishing rods are loaned to visitors so that they can blend in with the free range gnomes and get up close with them.
The Gnome Reserve is a four acre site, located between Bideford and Bude, around seven miles from the Devon/Cornwall border. In addition to the inhabited part of the reserve, there are woodlands, a wildflower meadow, and a thirty yard pond fed by a stream, because of course no self-respecting gnome can live without an opportunity to fish!
Gnome World photograph by Gill Rickson, used under a creative commons attribution licence.
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