Dear Friends of Wee Eden,

It is with heavy hearts that we announce the temporary closure of Wee Eden due to recent developments that have left us in a challenging situation.

Last week, we received contacts from a number of different departments of West Lothian council, just before we were due to go on our 25th Wedding anniversary holiday. We have done our best to comply with their requests but it is too much to do in a short time with just me doing most of it, although my husband helps in his spare time, but he has his own full-time job. We’ve had a massive amount of stress and worry from these interactions which we really don’t want to have hanging over us on our holiday, or when we return, for our own mental health. 

We must emphasise that Wee Eden is a very modest business with the primary goal of ensuring visitors happiness and our pets well-being. We offer only one experience per day, so our animals can chill out the rest of the day, and children under 10 are welcome for free. We also offer discounts to charities. Your entrance fee is used to cover costs but we are definitely not making profits of any kind, there are a lot of bills to pay for the animals. We may need to install electricity and water infrastructure to accommodate an external handwashing facility and the Planning costs pose a substantial financial and time challenge for us.

We want to express our profound gratitude to all those who have visited Wee Eden. It has been wonderful getting to know you and sharing in your  joyful moments, hosting special events, being birthday surprises and to be an item in your bucket list! Great to see 3 and 4 generations of the same families having a wonderful time in Wee Eden and also to meet all the wonderful young carers, the young adults from HYPE, their helpers and I was looking forward to meeting the adults day care facilities.

I am happy that this is not paper and pen as I am crying while writing this.

Before concluding this lengthy message, I wanted to acknowledge the support of various members of West Lothian council who are trying to help us to work out the issues.Closing down for now does remove the time pressures and gives us time to reach the best solutions rather than rushed ones.

If you hold a voucher that you haven’t yet used, please rest assured that your money can be refunded (those from WLC Social Club should contact them in the first instance). Alternatively, we hope that you can patiently await our reopening to use your voucher. For all others, please remember that Wee Eden is a pay-on-the-day establishment, we’re so sorry to disappoint those who were looking forward to visiting but will be happy to welcome you once these issues are sorted out. We shall also individually message anyone with an upcoming booking.

We deeply regret having to deliver this sad news but we remain hopeful that you will return to Wee Eden in the near future. Our goal is to once again share joyful moments with you amidst the beauty of our cherished animals and surroundings.

With heartfelt thanks,

Marian and Andrew MacCormack