Nature Friendly Holiday

Spreacombe Gardens are set in the private, wooded Spreacombe Valley in the Spreacombe Estate.

The estate has been owned and managed by the Dennis family for the last 60 years and the green , eco credentials of the estate are a product of the care and attention to nature over this time period.

We have many woodlands, some of which are commercial but other areas are planted for nature and as an amenity. We have two ponds that are kept with conservation in mind and trails around these that we invite our guests to enjoy.

In having woodland and low intensive farming we are delighted that we frequently see hare, two types of deer and last year I was excited to see a hedgehog for the first time in ages.

Tree planting

We have planted many thousands of trees over the last years, but we don’t just plant and leave trees, we also have a cycle of weeding, clearing back brambles and allowing these trees to flourish.

Our preference is to plant as wide a variety of both decidous and evergreen trees as possible, trying out different native species to create as diverse an area as possible both for wildlife and as a disease insurance. In a woodland a couple of miles from the main estate we even have some "cricket bat willows", and yes theor end point will hopefuly be to produce cricket bats.

As well as the standard commercial trees we are excited to have been able to plant one or two rarer specimen trees in a corner of the estate to see how they develop.

Newly planted trees on the edge of existing woodland

Wildlife Habitat

Some of our woodands are listed as ancient woodland and we are proud to try to continue the cycle of carbon capture and nature restoration. Some of our trees hold bat boxes or bird boxes, part of our forestry maintenance plan.

If a tree is felled it is usually sold, but around the estate there are also dead trees, either fallen or standing, left as wildlife habitats. It's not unusual for us to see an owl or other bird nesting in a hole in a tree that is dead.

We also have a County Wildlife Site and are entered in to government stewardship schemes.

Gnarled tree left standing as a nature habitat

Some of our guests have brought drones with them for fun. These two photographs were from different guests at different times of year. The more zoomed out photograph shows the trees looking a little bare, it was a cold Spring. This photograph clearly shows how nestled into the woodland our bungalows are.

The solar panels are visible on the longer buildings in the centre.

Spreacombe Drone photograph, evening light

Spreacombe Drone photograph, Spring, looking out to the sea

Pond life

The pond was originally built as a practice for Wistlandpound reservoir, a natural clay lined pond. It is fed by the stream which exits via a dam at the opposite end of the pond.

The pond was last dredged in 2012 and since then we have found wild trout in the pond that have arrived "via nature" and as a consequence frequently see heron, cormorant, wild duck and geese.

From time to time we see Kingfishers, along with other natoive brids such as woodpeckers, owls and buzzards.

Tree planting

Wildlife Habitat

Pond life

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