Beautiful place to stop by for a few minutes and within walking distance of a cool market. Friendly staff and unique gifts available! We loved getting to see monarchs hatch.
Loved this place! Did a tour through the lab and saw a lot of really cool bugs/insects. Our tour guide seemed to have a blast talking to everyone and explaining about the purpose and history of the butterfly farm. The gift shop also had a good selection of items.
We had a group tour of the insectarium. Lauren, an entomologist there provided an excellent description about many fascinating insects, and some beautiful butterflies.
Idk if it was because of it being end of season but I wouldn't say it was anything spectacular. The gift shop was nice but this wasn't anything to go out of the way for. I love what they're doing with educating folks on pollinators and the importance bugs have to play and that's where the stars are being given towards. This is the type of education needed to help the environmental needs we face
We did the tour.
There was hardly anywhere to park nearby so that was a problem.
Building was old and nice. Shop in front of the building was nice.
Tour is very short though. Tour guide was very informative but a little impatient with the kids. Kids enjoyed the bugs.
We only got to hold two different insects.
Butterfly garden was okay. Nothing special. Wasn't really worth the $10 ticket per person. Maybe $10 per group.
We also drove a few hours thinking this was a little bigger and longer and were a little disappointed. If you're already visiting around the area this might be a nice little thing to do, but don't go out of your way on a long drive.
It was an okay experience. But nothing spectacular.
I have bought milkweed and other plants here plus books and Chrysalis. I have taken my grandchildren here. I love it and so do they! They are very knowledgeable and helpful.
Good mix of relaxation and education. Somehow, the “creepy crawlies” here don’t seem so creepy. The staff is knowledgable and clearly passionate about what they do. Please go and support this business!
Experience was amazing, loved being able to hold insects and be informed about each and every one of them. It’s great for children and people who love insects and wanna see insects up close. Not wheelchair friendly, but it’s old architecture, tour guide let me sit in a chair.
Lovely experience always. I especially enjoy the butterfly house they have available for all to enjoy for free! They have native plants sales thru the year and are very knowledgeable about local pollinators and their native host plants. Highly recommend.
I didn't get to stay for long, but the store had many cute butterfly things. The backyard butterfly garden was teaming with life (mid-July), many flowers, butterflies, and moths were fluttering about.
One of the most fun and unique stores I’ve had the pleasure of shopping at. You can buy butterflies, flowers for butterflies, butterfly art and much much more. Owned by an entomologist do they know what they are doing.
This is the coolest store and experience. I absolutely loved my time in this building and it was the highlight of my trip to Louisville. So many specimens as well as butterflies in multiple stages to view. There is a butterfly garden in the rear as well. The historic building is also very neat.
We were disappointed. Very small enclosure to walk through with mostly a few monarch butterflies. The insectarium was closed. I'm sure they do good work but we should have done more research before we took our grandchildren.
Lovely shop with great eco-friendly and butterfly-themed items. They have a cool little butterfly enclosure and outdoor garden area that is free! Great experience for all ages!
I have had multiple wonderful experiences with Idlewild Butterfly Farm! Not only do you get to play with bugs and see fascinating butterflies, but in the spring they have a large diverse stock of hard-to-find native butterfly and pollinator plants. The whole staff is very professional and accommodating. I highly recommend visiting and shopping at Idlewild!
I've been to Idlewild for both a general tour and their Mothball event. Both times were incredibly educational, fascinating, and fun. I recently ordered their Painted Lady caterpillar kit for my cousin, who is five and lives in Florida. She is immune-compromised, and during Corona her family has been looking for things to do. They got the kit and it initially did not have instructions. A quick email to Idlewild fixed that. They loved watching their caterpillars grow up, and all of them eventually emerged as butterflies! She was so excited to release them, and had a fantastic experience. I will definitely be ordering from them again, and hope one day I can bring her to visit!
We thoroughly enjoyed the Creepy Things event! The decor was great and the was a perfect mix of enough lighting to see but still feel a little spooky. There were tons of great things to do from enjoying the creepy crawlies in the insect lab to browsing the amazing shop to searching for spiders in the spider house outdoors. although we didn't utilize them it was nice to see both a food truck and beer vendor on-site as many others were enjoying their services. The presentation by Blake Newton from the University of Kentucky on Medical Entomology was a great addition. The kids loved the cockroach racing and it was awesome to get to hold some of the bugs. Perhaps most importantly was the staff which was very helpful and friendly and quick to share fun educational facts about the bugs!
Fun free little place, well the outdoors butterfly part is free. Definitely fun for little kiddos. There is a paid portion where they do a tour of apparently a lot of exotic and international bugs, beetles, and lots of more critters. So you have good options here! Will be back
Visited for the first time today, had a great experience. Paid for the tour and so glad I did because it was awesome! They let you hold some of the insects and teach you all about the them.
Absolutely loved this place. Tour was very informative. We showed up a few weeks before the butterfly garden was open (too early in the season the first week of April '19) but the tour of the exotic bugs was amazing, educational, and totally fun. From a family that dislikes bugs, we had a great time overcoming fears holding spiders and bugs.
This place is such a cool hidden gem...it's reasonably priced to do a tour of the lab and butterfly garden, and you leave with an experience you (and the kids) won't ever forget. The entomologists are wonderful and guide you through the lab letting you pet, hold and snap pictures of all sorts of bugs and crawly things. This place is wayyyyy too much fun to pass up.
We were looking something new to do with our daughter on her birthday day out. We really enjoyed our visit. The tour of the insect room was intimate and fun. The butterfly garden outside was also neat. Our guide took plenty of time to let the kids (and adults) view and handle the different insects, and was happy to answer questions. Cute gift shop, too. I would love to see it expand and house even more species!
This would be a great opportunity for classes, homeschoolers, or just people looking to do something different. (The only drawback is having to explain to my daughter that we probably won't be getting a permit for a Malaysian stick insect...)
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