Lime Tree Observatory and Planetarium: ‘We turned a 1960s barn into an astronomy hub and 10 years later we’re so popular we struggle to accommodate people’

The Lime Tree Observatory and Planetarium in North Yorkshire has now been open for ten years. Liana Jacob speaks to one of those who founded the centre.

It started with a rescue mission. Martin Whipp, Chris Higgins and John Roberts came together to convert a barn in Ripon into an observatory and planetarium in 2012. Now, it is so popular they struggle to accommodate visitors.

It had been a “nerdy” dream of Martin’s ever since he gave a talk in a planetarium when he was 15-years-old. He’s always had a passion for astronomy and his dream came true in 2012 when a large telescope in Kent was under threat.

It was made by a man called John Wall in the 1970s and it took him 10 years to build - Martin and two of his friends Chris and John (Roberts) saved it from being scrapped. They dismantled the 24-inch diameter telescope, brought it to North Yorkshire and rebuilt it on the site of Lime Tree Farm, with permission from owners Peter and Irene Foster.

The three volunteers started building the observatory and planetarium themselves in 2014 and The Lime Tree Observatory opened its doors to the public a decade ago, in the winter of 2016, with nearly 300 people passing through its doors in the first season.

“It's a bit of a nerdy dream, but I've always wanted my own planetarium ever since I first gave a talk in one when I was about 15,” Martin says. “I've been into astronomy all my life and I have been a member of the York Astronomical Society for over 30 years now.

“With astronomy lots of people go in different directions; some people just want to do photography, some people just want to read about it, some people are happy just staring at the moon through a telescope. Everyone's got their own thing they want to do; I enjoy sharing astronomy with the public. I'm more than happy to stand in front of a crowd and just talk about astronomy, any aspect you like. Since I've been doing presentations for many, many years, opening an observatory and sharing the night sky with the public was something I wanted to do, especially under the dark skies of the Yorkshire Dales.”

Over the last 10 years, the popularity of the observatory has ‘exploded’, says Martin, due to word of mouth. “Every year we're actually struggling to accommodate people because people are making bookings earlier and earlier,” he says. “Its popularity has just exploded and we don't really need to advertise as such. Of course we get repeat customers as well so we're making lots of friends with scout groups and schools. It’s nice that we've sort of become a bit of a fixture in other people's calendars as well.”

Martin, who works full time at the NHS, runs the observatory and planetarium for six months between early October and at the end of March. The summer months are reserved for maintenance of the volunteer-led community interest company.

A common question they are asked is about the difference between an observatory and a planetarium. Martin explains: “The observatory is out in the field nearby and that's the bit that's got the aluminium dome that opens up and there's a telescope inside it and we can view the actual night sky.

“The planetarium is basically a theatre; think of it as a cinema but instead of having a flat screen it's got a large domed screen so we've got a projection system in there that allows us to project onto this domed screen. We can simulate the night sky, so even if it's pouring down outside and we've got visitors, we can recreate the night sky inside the planetarium.”

Martin, 50, along with Chris and John built the fibreglass planetarium from scratch at Lime Tree Farm, which diversified from a dairy farm from the 1960s to include a bed and breakfast, horse livery and camping site. “There are planetariums all over the world and some of them are small and inflatable and some of them are massive buildings within museums that cost multi-millions,” he says.

“Ours is a bit of a quirky thing in the middle really; it's self-built, it's inside a barn. Just about everyone who goes in for the first time, the first thing they say is wow, this is not what I expected at all because it is like walking into a professional cinema. I've never done any fibreglassing in my life and we've created this thing as big as a badminton court, almost spherical, we were delighted with that.”

Building it, however, has come with various challenges. “Building a tilted spherical screen inside a 1960s barn is not an easy job so the main problems that we've had over the years have been engineering ones,” Martin says. “But one of our volunteers, John Roberts, has a lot of contacts in the engineering world, he comes back with a solution and nine times out of ten we get things fixed and usually at either cost or zero cost.

“We were fortunate that during the building of the planetarium and renovations on the observatory recently, we've been supported by the Nidderdale National Landscape team, which used to be the AONB. They had a funding stream and they have been very supportive towards us because it's basically about farm diversification. You don't get much more diverse than building a planetarium in a barn.”

Astronomy is a hobby for all ages, Martin says. “We do have a lot of family bookings, but of course then we have Cubs, Brownies, Scouts, etc. and they want to do their stargazing badge. I think astronomy is one of those things where people have a background interest, they're curious and they want to know a bit more, even if it's just what was that really bright thing next to the moon the other night.

“They have no idea what it was, so they'll get in touch and say, well, it was Venus, but if you want to know more, come along. A couple of people will tell you more about why you see it that bright. I think people have always got that sort of background interest.”

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