Have You Noticed an Insect Bonanza in 2025? (jul25)
Bugs are back – let’s fight to save them… Our garden is humming and buzzing with life this year – and it’s glorious. Every step through the wildflower meadows brings a flurry of movement. Bugs of all sorts dart between the grasses, butterflies spiral upward, bees bury into blooms. In the golden light of early […]
Wilding Weekend – June 2024
Full steam ahead for our third Wilding Weekend. It will be on 15th and 16th June in sunny West Dorset, near Beaminster! Opening hours will be 10.30am to 4.30pm. The garden is wild. Come and have a look. We have wildflower meadows, a cascade of ponds, insect homes, a medieval walkway, a bat-egg (!), mown […]
Wilding Weekend 2024 (Apr24 Update)
Full steam ahead for our third Wilding Weekend. It will be on 15th and 16th June in sunny West Dorset, near Beaminster! Opening hours will be 10.30am to 4.30pm. The garden is wild. Come and have a look. We have wildflower meadows, a cascade of ponds, insect homes, a medieval walkway, a bat-egg (!), mown […]
COME TO OUR WILDING WEEKEND ON 17TH & 18TH OF JUNE 2023
During the weekend there will be guided tours, talks, exhibitors and stalls with information and advice about wilding, as well as things to buy. Conservation experts will show you the wildflower meadows, ponds, and grasslands identifying the insects, birds, reptiles, and amphibians that they find. Julia will be telling visitors about the challenges and successes […]
Our Wilding Weekend in June 2023 (Mar Update)
On 17th and 18th June 2023, my husband Jamie Macdonald and I will be hosting the second Wilding Weekend at our home in Dorset. Find out more about it here. WE WILL BE SUPPORTING – THE NATIONAL GARDEN SCHEME Ticket sales will be donated to the National Garden Scheme (NGS) charities. Here’s a link to […]
Wild about Wilding (Jan23)
We organised the very first Wilding Weekend in June 2022, at our home in West Dorset. It was also the first garden opened through the National Garden Scheme (NGS) that was included primarily for its ‘wilding’ rather than for beautiful borders, impeccably mown lawns and other attributes of more traditional gardens. The next Wilding Weekend […]
Second Wilding Weekend in June 2023 (Jan23)
Come to our next Wilding Weekend on 17th and 18th June 2023. We’ll be opening our garden and land through the National Garden Scheme, offering lunch, tea and cakes as well as showing what we’ve done to create more wildlife-friendly habitats. Stalls, Talks and/or Tours will include:
Where the Rainforest Meets the Sea (Apr22)
It felt magical. We walked through the thick tangled forest and yet only meters away were the waves crashing onshore and brightly coloured crabs scuttling into their holes. We were watching monkeys swinging through the trees – there are four species indigenous to the Osa Peninsula in the South West corner of Costa Rica. We […]
Help! An Insect Apocalypse is happening right now… (Dec21)
Help! An Insect Apocalypse is happening right now… (Dec21) The frightening thing is that we may not be aware of how devastating the decline in insects has been over the last 100 years. Insects were the first things to fly and sing. Pre-dinosaurs the planet was swarming with them with no other living things. There […]
Wilding has started… (Jul20)
Yesterday, the diggers and dumpers arrived, along with the wonderful Andrew George and his fellow wilder, Lesley Malpas (Operation Future Hope). When I’ve mentioned wilding people imagine it means animals like badgers and beavers. Actually, the focus will be on bees, butterflies and birds, along with the wild flowers, hedgerows and trees that will attract […]