A HUGE reptile house featuring snakes, lizards, and tortoises has opened its doors to the public.

The former Discovery Centre, at Barleylands Farm and Craft Village, in Billericay, has been given a £100,000 revamp to make way for the attraction.

It is the biggest of its kind in the South East with 55 separate enclosures featuring the likes of scorpions, spiders, toads and other creepy crawlies.

Barleylands teamed up with Southend-based Snakes Alive for the project, which has opened in time for the Easter holidays.

Daniel Hepplewhite, 32, set up the educational business with his parents Peter and Susan in 1996 and visits schools, Scout groups, holiday clubs and shopping centres to show off his growing collection.

He said: “This is an exciting project for us to bring to Barleylands. By offering a collection of reptiles and mini-beasts to the public we’re allowing more people to be educated about these amazing animals.”

Dave Finkle, farm manager at Barleylands, said: “We are ecstatic to announce the opening of the reptile house and we are looking forward to greeting our customers and watching them explore and learn.”

The new attraction was opened on Friday, by John Baron, Tory MP for Basildon and Billericay.

Pupils from nearby Downham Primary School, in Ramsden Heath, were the first lucky visitors through the door.

They had the chance to get up close with some of the reptiles, including snakes and a bearded dragon, during the interactive session.

Mr Baron said: “This is a great initiative which will be very popular, especially with children.

The reptile house adds to the many attractions at Barleylands, which is already one of the most popular visitor destinations in Essex.

“Our congratulations go to the whole team and to the kids from Downham Primary School who were very brave and excited.”