Wilder Open Gardens list

Across Somerset, people are celebrating what they’re doing to help nature recover – and what better way to do it than with tea and cake. Find a Wilder Open Garden below, learn from others, and help put nature on the path to recovery in your own patch.

Please note: These events are put on by our wonderful supporters who are raising vital funds in aid of Somerset Wildlife Trust. Please attend at your own risk, and note that events listed may be subject to last minute changes. For the most up to date information, please contact the individual event organiser.

Key:
Medium garden = ~50-150m2
Large garden = over 150m2 or with an extra area such as an orchard or meadow)
♿️ = most of the area is wheelchair friendly
🐕 = dogs welcome, on a lead please
🚽 = toilets nearby

Please note:

This page is currently in beta testing! The gardens listed below have been populated for the purposes of seeing what is possible, and how our wonderful past Wilder Open Garden hosts can interact with it. A fully live version will be launched in early summer.

Openings by prior arrangement

Chancellor's Farm

By prior arrangement only.

A series of traditionally managed fields around the buildings of Chancellor’s Farm and providing an outstanding example of some of the flower rich grassland communities associated with the higher parts of the Mendip plateau, which have now become very scarce. Please note the reserve is Permit Only.

Contact details: Somerset Wildlife Trust
Contact number: 01823 652400
Contact email: enquiries@somersetwildlife.org

Group openings

Avalon Marshes

Avalon Marshes Centre
Shapwick Road,
Glastonbury,
BA6 9TT

10am to 5pm seven days a week

Entry: is free for adults and children.
Parking: No formal car park. Best to park in Cheddar and then proceed on foot along Lippiatt Lane to the footpath starting at ST 463 536 and then to the reserve entrance at ST 472 537.
Contact details: Contact number: 01823 652400 / Contact email: enquiries@somersetwildlife.org

The Avalon Marshes Centre sits at the heart of Somerset’s Avalon Marshes. The centre has visitor information, café, craft shop, replica historic buildings, classroom, meeting room, car park and toilets. The centre lies at the heart of the areas nature reserves.

Catcott is now part of the Avalon Marshes area and is a living example of an ancient landscape much as it was before the major agricultural changes of the 20th century. Westhay Moor is also part of the mystical Avalon Marshes within Somerset's historic Levels and Moors. It provides a home for rare wildlife and a unique insight into thousands of years of shifting landscape.

♿️ 🐕🚽

Upcoming Wilder Open Gardens

April

Bubwith Acres
Off Cliff Road,
Cheddar,
Somerset

6th & 13th April 2025
2-5pm

Entry: is free for adults and children.
Parking: No formal car park. Best to park in Cheddar and then proceed on foot along Lippiatt Lane to the footpath starting at ST 463 536 and then to the reserve entrance at ST 472 537.
Contact details: Contact number: 01823 652400 / Contact email: enquiries@somersetwildlife.org

In spring and summer there is a fantastic display of wildflowers, with the varying soil types found across the site supporting different species.

Medium garden 🐕

May

Great Breach Wood,
Reynald's Way,
Compton Dundon,
Somerset

Sunday 18th & 25th May 2025
2-5pm

Entry: is free for adults and children.
Parking: Park at Combe Hill Wood car park ST 503 329 then follow Polden Way south to reserve.
Contact details: Contact number: 01823 652400 / Contact email: enquiries@somersetwildlife.org

The reserve is home to many woodland birds such as Blue and Great Tits, Nuthatch and Tree Creepers. Keep an ear out for the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. Barely bigger than a Sparrow, these tiny birds make a lighter ‘tapping’ than the drumming of their Great-Spotted cousin which also breed here.

Large garden ♿️ 🐕 🚽 

June

Fivehead Arable Fields,
Cathanger Lane,
Off A378,
Fivehead,
Somerset

Sunday 6th & 13th June 2025
2-5pm

Entry: is free for adults and children.
Parking: No dedicated reserve parking and lanes are very narrow but some roadside parking possible in Cathanger Lane. Do not block any gates as all are used daily. Entrance to the reserve is from Cathanger Lane at ST 338 226.
Contact details: Contact number: 01823 652400 / Contact email: enquiries@somersetwildlife.org

Nationally scarce species found here are Broad-leaved Spurge, Spreading Hedge-Parsley, Narrow-fruited Cornsalad and Slender Tare. Other uncommon species found on this site are Small Toadflax, Dwarf Spurge, Sharp-leaved Fluellen and Round-leaved Fluellen. Skylarks regularly nest within the fields. Brown Hares have been recorded. A number grassland butterflies are present including Marbled White and Common Blue, and the Great Green Bush-Cricket also occurs.

Small garden ♿️ 🐕 🚽 

July

Test garden at Snails Hill

West Chinnock,
Crewkerne
TA18 7QF

Example date 2025
2-5pm

Entry donation: £3
Parking details: parking for 3 cars in the layby opposite, and further parking in the village
Contact details: Contact number: 01823 652400 / Contact email: enquiries@somersetwildlife.org
In early summer can feel like you have stepped back in time. These flower rich damp pastures are a remnant of an older landscape when farming was far less intensive. The reserve consists of three fields on gently sloping land that are bordered by two streams.

Small garden ♿️ 🐕 🚽 