Tropical house with thousands of butterflies opens

Hidden behind the historic Stanmer House sits a Victorian-style palm house which, until recently, had fallen into disrepair, but is now home to thousands of butterflies.

BBC Radio Sussex visited the new Sussex Butterfly Gardens ahead of its opening, when staff were putting the finishing touches in place.

Stepping through the plastic strip curtains, it was the heat and humidity of the house that hit first, then the striking array of colourful flowers and plants.

The butterflies had not yet been released, but once free of their storage nets, the space would become "a living classroom", Matt Simmonds, founder of Sussex Butterfly House, explained.

"With Plumpton College, we've created this incredible space where we'll house up to 3,000 butterflies," Matt said.

"As a visitor, you can immerse yourself in a jungle, 30 degrees and 80% humidity, and wander round the park here, seeing butterflies from all over the world."

Matt said the highlight of the experience would be the blue morpho butterfly from central America, "with iridescent blue wings, darting and flitting" around the space.

But this is not just a tourist attraction.

"We have created here, working with Plumpton College, a living classroom for students studying invertebrates of the tropical world," Matt said.

"They will get a hands-on experience of how to work in the environment."

Former Plumpton student Beth Brockwell is one of the directors of the project, and said the main objective was education.

"We work with tropical butterflies and do a lot of conservation work, making people aware of what's going on behind the scenes," she said.

"Without butterflies, and pollinators in general, there's no flowers, no food, no plants."

The butterfly house opens to the public on 23 May.