The leisure site, between the zoo and the theme park on the world of tales and legends, celebrates its 30th anniversary this year.
Managed by a family of enthusiasts, Legendia Parc now wants to play in the big leagues by crossing the milestone of 100,000 visitors in 2022.
Timon and his meerkat friend discover their new enclosure by hopping, in front of the amused gaze of visitors.
A little further, majestic white wolves are resting under the trees, while applause resounds from the arena where the show “La ferme des Korrigans” has just taken place.
40 km from Nantes, Legendia Parc, located in Frossay (Loire-Atlantique), has just reopened its doors for a new season, during the school holidays.
A year like no other for this strange site, between the zoo and the theme park in the world of tales and legends, which took its time to really find the formula for success.
This hybrid place which is celebrating its 30th anniversary, long called the “Deer Trail”, now hopes to play in the big leagues by crossing the milestone of 100,000 visitors, “with great ambitions for the future”, indicates this family business.
"A real thunderbolt for the deer"
In 1992, nothing predestined its founder, then a dairy cow breeder, to create this leisure site, where five shows are played daily and where 500 animals, mostly from European fauna, now live together.
It was while seeking to diversify his activity, for economic reasons, that Patrick Lefeuvre “felt in love with fallow deer”.
Unknown in the region, these deer initially bred for their meat have become a real local attraction.
“Faced with this enthusiasm, we organized visits, first on foot and then by horse-drawn carriage, recalls the farmer.
Two years later, I started building the park, a body of water, caves… Every year, with my wife who was at reception, we tried to come up with something new.
»
For 20 years, slowly but surely, the 33-hectare park has expanded and diversified.
Like Puy-du-Fou, the first shows are offered and attract a family and local audience seduced by the universe of legends, numerous in the Pays de Retz, that the park wishes to embody.
Wolves, bears, lynx… The number of species is increasing, but not yet notoriety.
“We built ourselves haphazardly, without calculation or growth objectives,” confides with humility Patrick Lefeuvre, whose son and son-in-law recently took over the reins of the company.
It is passion that has guided us.
»
Strong increase in attendance
In 2017, a name change was made and the park decided to go all out during special events, such as Halloween or Christmas.
“Being called Legendia Parc has allowed us to position ourselves more clearly, with this encounter between magic and the spectacular, observes Anaïs Bouillet, in charge of communication.
Since then, attendance figures have only increased, despite the health crisis!
More than 2,000 people came in one day last December.
A record!
»
The time has therefore come to attract many more, with visitors who would now come from all over the region.
To accommodate them as well as possible, Legendia Parc is currently building two top-of-the-range lodges (in the heart of the Plaine des Loups) like its competitor Planète Sauvage.
The team has grown further to reach 27 employees, some of whom will work in a new restaurant.
A biodiversity preservation program, with the reception of endangered species, are part of the many areas of development.
After the Arctic, gray and Canadian wolves, "maned" canids will soon appear.
Culture
Puy du Fou: The park will launch a show train over 4,000 km across France
Nantes
Loire-Atlantique: With its lodges, Planète Sauvage begins its move upmarket
Economy
Animals
Hobbies
Zoo
Society
Nantes
0 comment
0 share
Share on Messenger
Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on Flipboard
Share on Pinterest
Share on Linkedin
Send by Mail
To safeguard
A fault ?
To print