“Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen;” (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 2.2.10)
As part of our ongoing environmental initiative, the gardens team have built a number of features to provide habitats for wildlife at Anne Hathaway’s Cottage. In recent years these have include a dead hedge, a large woodpile, bug hotels, and most recently a hedgehog house.
The hedgehog hotel is located in a quiet corner of the sculpture garden at Anne Hathaway’s Cottage and provides a space for hedgehogs to hibernate, safely away from predators. The main structure is made from recycled bricks, with a slab as a roof, then covered with logs and brash to provide additional insulation and to help camouflage it. It is tucked between trees and shrubs, to help provide protection from the worst of the English weather.
From a bird’s eye view the bricks are positioned like a digital number 6 creating a tunnel with a corner at the end that hedgehogs can easily crawl through, but predators cannot, this then leads into a cozy compartment filled with dried leaves as bedding for any potential hedgehog guests.
