Is Storybook Glen really laugh-out-loud bad?
Although now known as The Den & The Glen, its old name has stuck and it remains Storybook Glen to generations of north-east folk.
There’s no doubting its status as an Aberdeenshire institution and the concept is a simple one.
Ninety statuettes, stretched across a vast parkland in leafy Maryculter, depict characters and features from nursery rhymes and fairy tales.
Humpty Dumpty, Little Red Riding Hood, the Gingerbread House, Goldilocks, and all the rest. Throw in characters from popular TV shows – Noddy and Fireman Sam for the Eighties kids (both still there); In The Night Garden, Peppa Pig, and Teletubbies for later generations.
It’s grown exponentially over the last 40 years. My albeit hazy memories of being taken there as a young kid in the 1980s was that it was a few of the old classics, and Postman Pat.
Now, it’s got so many features that you’re given a map to help navigate your way round.
The ‘unsettling’ figures making waves beyond the north-east
But with growth has come scrutiny, and Storybook Glen has unfortunately come in for its share of ridicule since the turn of the century.
A 2015 review in VICE magazine went viral across the UK.
Aberdonian journalist Euan Davidson tried to relive his youth by visiting Storybook Glen for the first time as an adult.
What he found was exhibits with “bizarre body proportions” and “deeply unsettling fingers”, which evoked a sense of “existential dread”.
He decried the “relentless misery of the statuettes, the colour-drained monuments to childhood.”
TripAdvisor reviews were pretty brutal around that time as well.
“Avoid this place,” said one. “A place of nightmares and neglect,” said another.
Almost a decade on, there’s still a lot of talk about the, shall we say, slightly unusual characters.
“Creepy” appears to be the word of choice.
Storybook Glen can’t have aged as badly as me…can it?
But the older I get, the more I seem to appreciate the absurd. I also have three children to entertain. It’s not often I get the opportunity to combine the two.
Storybook Glen opened the year I was born: 1984. I took my kids along to see whether this Aberdeenshire institution really had aged as badly as me.
Being three years old, my youngest Edith thought everything was wonderful.
“Wooow”, she purred, as she stopped in front of Iggle Piggle and Upsy Daisy, both unmistakably sporting the wrong shade.
But the older two, Ilse, 10 and Johan, 13, both saw the funny side of some of the statuettes.
The Lion from the Wizard of Oz had them both laughing out loud, along with Mum and Dad. You’ll see why from the photo.
And I understood Davidson’s comment about bizarre body proportions when I saw Fireman Sam. Again, I’ll let the picture do the talking.
The statuette that gave birth to a global meme
As for Barney the Dinosaur, the purple 90s TV icon imported from the US, what to say?
His Storybook Glen statuette was so…different, that it ultimately became a globally-famous meme.
If ‘Cha Cha Real Smooth’ rings a bell with Millenials, I’m here to tell you that every time you saw that meme, you were looking at Storybook Glen.
Then there’s Bart Simpson, who still makes me laugh, days after my visit.
“Look at his eyes!” my 10-year-old howled, as she choked on her ice cream.
I have to say, though, some were actually pretty good – Cinderella, and Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, for example.
Which makes it slightly bizarre that some are so odd-looking. And yes, okay, creepy.
Storybook Glen: The case for the defence
Do you know what though? I don’t think the undeniably shoddy design of some of the statuettes matters.
If my three-year-old thinks they’re great, and I get a laugh out of them, what’s the problem?
It was far more entertaining as a parent than a lot of stuff I’ve taken my kids to over the years. There was no clock-watching or staring at my phone. I mean look at Bart!
And laughing at the odd-looking statuettes isn’t the same as criticising.
Because the truth is, I’ve got nothing but praise for Storybook Glen.
It’s set in some of the most beautiful grounds in Aberdeenshire – we spent half an hour just sitting on the grass with an ice cream, listening to the gentle gurgle of the Crynoch Burn.
There’s an indoor soft play area (that’s the ‘Den’ part of The Den & The Glen) and café, swings dotted about throughout, a hut selling ice cream, and NINETY statuettes that your kids will love.
I mean, some of them you’ll laugh at – but we all need a bit more laughter in our lives, right?
A gem on our doorstep that’s still drawing the crowds after four decades
Storybook Glen was packed with families when we were there, and everyone was clearly having a good time.
It was far preferable to the stimulation overload of a day at the Beach Boulevard, and the scenery was genuinely stunning.
It’s the sort of place kids don’t want to leave. There was literally nothing boring about it for any of us – and parents will know that’s not always the case when taking the kids out for the day.
No, it’s a veritable gem on our doorstep.
So keep doing what you’re doing Storybook Glen (okay, The Den & The Glen). Let the haters hate, and never change.
