Nature Features

Most people have been to Butterfly World, whether as a school trip where the overgrown greenery looked like The Day of the Triffids... or as a grown up with your children where you realised just how fearless the winged insects were as they kamikaze towards your face.

A map showing where Gareth found his butterflies

But few know the story behind the Butterfly World, and most importantly, Gareth Welsh... the man who set it all up.

The story starts with Gareth as a lecturer, craving something more in his life. He travelled around the world, teaching in various countries; and along with his children, developed a love for butterflies... breeding, catching, and collecting them.

"I started off as a teacher at Stockton and Billingham Tech. I taught in Malawi, and started going round the world teaching. When my children were small we'd go out catching butterflies... just like I did as a child.

Gareth Welsh, from Butterfly World

"You've got to love them like I do." Gareth explains the motivation behind Butterfly World. But it's not all running around with nets catching butterflies, there's a lot of hard work goes into collecting:

"The problem is getting the plants, if you can get the plant you're half way there. A lot of the trips we go on are to get the plants before we get the butterflies. Sometimes we'll go to an area three times!"

He eventually brought his talents back to the UK when sickness hit his young family and a return to home was needed.

Having spent so long setting up his colonies across the globe, it seemed the logical thing to set up Butterfly World here in Teesside.

"The thing is, people get a lot of pleasure out of them, and I get a lot of pleasure out of watching the children and the grown-ups.

"I just keep thinking it's all worth while."