There is a new theme park coming to Britain – though without big dippers and ghost trains. It will be an historical attraction with Vikings, knights and Tommy Atkins in the trenches.
It will be Britain’s equivalent of the wildly popular Puy du Fou, a historical theme park in western France which opened in 1989 and now pulls in nearly three million visitors a year.
The Sunday Times reported this week that the French company behind Puy du Fou has plans to open a £300 million British version in Oxfordshire. The paper spoke to Olivier Strebelle, Puy du Fou’s chief executive, who said: ‘We have our guests travel through time, out of [the] Roman period and into the 20th century period of the great wars.’
Strebelle added that the theme park would be for ‘local people’. What does that mean? Most likely that it will unashamedly and unapologetically showcase British history the old-fashioned way: with heroes and battles and bravado.
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