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> When did you start collecting frogs?
> What made you start collecting frogs?
> How many frogs do you have?
> Which is your favorite frog?
> Which is your biggest frog?
> Which is your smallest frog?
> Why did you set up your museum?
> What does your family think of your collection?
> What do your friends have to say?
> Will you ever stop collecting?
When did you start collecting frogs?
I first started collecting frogs in 1979. However it wasn't until May 1985 that I realized just to what extent frogs could be spawned. This was when I went to Holland for Ineke Bons Moody's Frog Open Day. What an occasion, what a revelation! Ineke, with whom I bonded instantly, had amassed a most fantastic frog collection over the years, about 1,700 - mine was only 150! I felt like a very small tadpole in a very large pond! But I was toadily inspired and quickly multiplied my efforts to make the collection what it is today.
What made you start collecting frogs?
Well, it all began quite by accident, when I bought a green ornament to go into my green sitting room at home in London. To be honest, it wasn't the "frog" that attracted me, just it's green colour. When I look back, I think it is just lucky it wasn't a "hippopotamus"!!! Other frogs followed, and the rest they say is "history"!
At the last count I have 10,454 but that was a few days ago. They just keep spawning rapidly - and it's not even spring!
My favorite frog is definitely the one that I kiss and he turns into a wonderful and very handsome prince. Naturally he's called "The Frog Prince". He starts out as a green, bean-filled, velvet frog; his mouth is a zipper that, once kissed, turns inside out to reveal a Crown Prince dressed in a dark red velvet coat.
Well, I have a most wonderful life-size bronze frog playing
netball - she stands at around 2M high. Her hand is raised holding the
ball, ready to shoot. She is wearing a pleated games skirt and a GS (Goal
Shooter) bib over a T-shirt. She is amazingly realistic.
I also have a fabulous pair of frogs, known as Harry and Sally, after
the movie "When Harry Met Sally". They stand side by side, lovingly
holding hands, and are also spawned in bronze. At around 2M high, they
make a very attractive couple.
Here again, I have several really weeny frog pieces of jewelery, about 2mm in size. But my absolute favourite is the tiny little silver frog charm that can hang on a necklace.
Why did you set up your museum?
My answer is twofold. It was a combination of our London home bursting at its froggy seams and our desire to move out to the more spacious countryside. And then we found this property in Baydon - it seemed an ideal natural habitat for both my family and my frogs. Ponds and picturesque panoramas - a perfect final resting place for such an abundance of amphibians. And at the FrogsGalore Museum there is room to spawn, as well as providing a place for other Frogophiles to have a frolicking fun time.
What does your family think of your collection?
Well my husband has always been incredibly supportive. As for my 3 children, they take quite an interest now that they are older. They often buy me frogs to add to the collection, which is just wonderful. However, I fear that when they were younger, they probably thought of themselves more as tadpoles rather than children!
What do your friends have to say?
Oh, they definitely think I'm croaking mad, a toadily frogetful froglet and definitely a "lily pad short of a pond"!
Will you ever stop collecting?
Of course not! As long as there are frogs a-leaping, I shall be multiplying until my croaking day!