Plan for new UK theme park in Oxfordshire upsets locals and sees pig farmer shunned by neighbours

A pig farmer who is selling his land for a controversial £600M French theme park next to a motorway says he's been shunned by furious locals. Puy du Fou, a historical theme park with no rides, is proposing to build a huge site near to junction 10 of the M40 on land north of Bucknell, near Bicester.

But locals have slammed the plans as a potential 'nightmare' and directed their anger at an elderly couple who are selling the land to accommodate it. A consultation has now been launched with plans expected to be formally submitted in the summer.

Derek Hedges, 80, said he got the “cold shoulder” after the announcement. He said: “Some people will look the other way. They don't understand the pressures of pig farming. I mean, in 2022 the independent British pig industry went through hell.

“We were losing £10,000 a week for a whole year; nobody in the village came to me and said: ‘You all right, Derek, how are you coping with this?’ It was worse than foot-and-mouth.”

Derek said he was upset at the reaction as he had been at the centre of village life for decades. He added: "I have done a lot in the village in my time. I've chaired every committee in the village, I've been involved with nearly every event that's ever happened in the village.”

There have also been some misconceptions about what type of park Puy du Fou is. Derek said: “Some of the initial reactions were like it was a roller coaster ride-type fairground that was going to be put in and it's not. I call it ‘Theatre in the forest’ because what I've seen in France, that's what it's like.”

Puy du Fou has history-themed parks in Les Epesses in France since 1978 and in Toledo, Spain, since 2021. The park in Oxfordshire would be open between April and October and would have four period villages and 13 live shows.

On the continent, it has showcased historical events such as the Roman Empire and figures like patron saint of France, Joan of Arc. Under the proposals, the new Oxfordshire-based park would include natural features such as ponds, lakes, and gardens, and more than 40 acres of wildflower meadows and 20,000 new trees, are also included in the plans.

However, some locals have raised concern about the proposed development. Nick Jones, 66, a technical director living nearby, said: “I've been living here for 29 years and we're being encompassed by the world. We’re not a quiet country village anymore. We've got 7,000 houses due just over there, and then suddenly we get Puy de Fou 500m from my back garden. We're just being overwhelmed by this.

“They're going to take more than 500 acres of prime farmland. They say: ‘It’s not a theme park’ - it’s got a theme. It hasn’t got any rides but it’s still a theme park. They're just trying to placate us. The infrastructure is not ready for it. Talking to the people we know in the village, most people are against it.

“In the last two weeks, four houses have gone up for sale in the village.” He added that it had made him consider selling and moving. “I moved here for a quiet village life,” he said.

Colin Hornby, 45, a service manager, said: “I am agnostic about it. Ultimately the land that the Puy de Fou site is potentially going to go on to will be sold for something. I know the farmer down there, and I don't think he's able to continue farming and still make a profit - farming is so difficult nowadays. Ultimately, he will sell the land. And the question then is what goes there?

“Either a massive housing development, like is happening all around Bucknell at the moment, or warehousing, because they seem to like to build these massive warehouses all around the place.

“Pick your poison, really. Do you want a historical theme park? They're planting 20,000 trees and it’s not going to have rollercoasters. I see it potentially as the lesser of two evils. I would prefer that to be built, rather than another huge housing estate with 5,000 houses.

“People are definitely strongly against it, especially the people who live closer - their peace and quiet is potentially going to be impacted by having noisy events happening there. Puy de Fou have done a very good marketing job trying to explain how they're going to shield from noise. They're saying all the right things, but you can never really tell what it's going to be like until it's actually there.”

In response to the level of local opposition, a Facebook group entitled 'We Want Puy du Fou UK' has now been created by supporters of the project. Co-founder of the group Adam Goodger lives in Leicestershire, around an hour and 15 minutes drive from the site. He said he is a 'big fan' of the site in France.

He said: "I have loved visiting over the last few years. Puy du Fou is a theme park unlike any in the world. I’d argue theme park is the wrong phrase for it entirely because when people consider the word 'theme park' they think about rides and places like Alton Towers.

"Puy du Fou isn’t that. It’s some incredibly clever and innovative ideas that bring together the history of the country they are in. I’ve seen that there are a lot of people who are against the park being built. I don’t live in the vicinity of where the park is likely to be built but I do see their concerns, just as anyone would do.

"But, a lot of the comments I’ve seen are ill informed and there has been little in the way of research about what Puy Du Fou really is. I’m glad to see that they recently created a myth busting page in order to try and squash those rumours.

"Ultimately, we set up the group to keep people informed on the progress that is being made and the positives that bringing such a place can have, not only for the UK in general, but the local area too."

The Puy du Fou 'mythbuster' page on its consultation website said it is 'aware that a small number of local objectors have been circulating incorrect information about our project', and said it wanted to 'ensure that correct information is always available for local residents'.

A spokesperson for Puy du Fou said : "Every day we are open, tens of thousands of visitors in two countries witness the quality and popularity of Puy du Fou’s work, as evidenced by the thousands of glowing reviews on social media, TripAdvisor, Google, Facebook etc. Our visitors provide the best response to these negative and unfounded criticisms.”