Wake up with Arthur Cole as he leads you on a stroll through the glistening winter gardens before the gates are opened and rest of the estate awakes. The walk culminates in a warming breakfast in the Garden Cafe.

(Please be aware: at times the walk shall cover rough and uneven ground over changeable topography, please enquire if concerned about mobility access)

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! A time to wrap ourselves up and wrap presents for family and friends. Christmas cards aren’t only a way to reaffirm the bonds with our loved ones; making them from scratch offers you the time to pause during the busy festive season, creating something that will adorn their homes.

The second part of the workshop will teach you elementary calligraphy using botanical inks, to then beautifully write your festive wishes.

Includes: Tea & coffee on arrival with the Bakery’s signature cinnamon bun, ending with lunch at the Garden Café.

Join us on our first ever Christmas Market on the Estate.

Visit our first ever Christmas Market Weekend, 9am-8pm on 9 December, and 9am–4.30pm on 10 December.

That festive feeling is sweeping across our Somerset estate, as plans continue apace to make winter at The Newt more magical than ever. The heady scent of spiced mulled cyder fills the air; a Christmas shop has popped up in the Threshing Barn; and the House & Garden and Farm Shop have been transformed into a treasure trove of gifts and treats.

Enjoy fairy-lit stalls with an array of produce and seasonal wares, carol singing, chestnuts roasting, fires roaring, tall tales about toads and warming hot chocolate to delight the children and the chance to book in to see St Nicholas at the Gardener’s Cottage. Join us as we celebrate the most wonderful time of the year!

There’s no time like the present to start making festive plans, so be sure to save the date

Christmas decorations bring cheer into the home and often remind us of Christmasses past, as we unwrap those as old familiar favourites from the box. Creating your own decorations is mindful, rewarding and means they are particular and unique to you - which makes them priceless.

Join our Floriculturist and Heritage Gardener, Maiko Ishida, for a workshop that starts with a forage through the woodlands and gardens to gather natural materials, before using them to create a host of decorations.

Includes: Tea & coffee on arrival with the Bakery’s signature cinnamon bun, ending with lunch at the Garden Café.

9 & 10 December 16 & 17 December

£10 per child for Members only

A highlight for children this year is an enchanting visit to St Nicholas at the Gardener’s Cottage for a special gift. Wander through the Winter Garden light tunnel and down the steps to St Nicholas’s Somerset outpost. Pre-booking in advance is essential.

One child per slot

Warm your cockles and fire little imaginations this festive season with our NEW family trail, inspired by the legend of the White Hart, a mythical creature that symbolises purity, change and spiritual awakening.

We have created an Enchanted Christmas Quest to lead you and your families around the gardens and woodland, taking in our favourite sights and discovering hidden corners along the way.

Follow the sheep to find the legendary White Hart and claim your sweet reward at the Threshing Barn. Embark on The Newt's White Hart Quest!

No booking required, simply ask at the Threshing Barn to receive a trail map and off you go.

Trail is included in Newt Membership, with no additional charge.

Wake up with our Head of Programmes Arthur Cole on a stroll through some of our less travelled woodland walks, witnessing them in their quiet wintery magic before the rest of the estate awakes. The walk culminates in a warming breakfast at the Garden Café.

(Please be aware: at times the walk shall cover rough and uneven ground over changeable topography, please enquire if concerned about mobility access)

Have you ever walked through the Kitchen Garden at different times of the year and wondered how the beds seem so full wonderous varieties of produce? It doesn't happen by accident, the Kitchen Garden Team painstakingly plan their whole year this month: sowing schedules, work plans, sequential rotation, companion planting, pest & disease measures, designs, material orders etc. For the first time ever, these edible-garden experts share their plans, schedules, tips, tricks and secrets to succeeding with healthy, productive plots.

The day begins with a walk and talk through the Kitchen Gardens discussing the choice of winter crops, how to read your aspect and soil before addressing the design elements of your plot, then you will create a sowing calendar and be introduced to unusual cultivars that the team grow for the chefs. The day ends with a warming, winter lunch in the Garden Café.

Understand the delicate art of planting a micro-garden in beautiful glass bottles and learn to keep these miniature Edens thriving in your home.

The day begins with learning about the different components of the terrarium from the glass bottle to the the specialised growing media and the plant species you will populate it with. Under the expert guidance of our Nursery Team you shall then create your very own miniature contained garden. You shall then take the knowledge gained and your terrarium home with you.

Includes: Tea & coffee on arrival with the Bakery’s signature cinnamon bun, ending with lunch at the Garden Café.

"A comely sight indeed it is to see, a world of blossoms on an apple tree", John Bunyan (1628-1688). Join Andy ‘Apples’ Lewis, our Specialist Fruit Grower, as he leads a masterclass on successful grafting of apple trees.

The small-group session will cover why, when and how to graft. By the end of the class you will have four apple trees to plant at home and grow over the years to come - including the Yarlington Mill variety, a cyder apple close to our heart as it was first discovered less than a mile from our estate.

The day begins with a walk through the Parabola, discussing the unique collection and the role that grafting had to play in its creation. You will prune scion wood from your choice of 300 apple cultivars and then graft it onto rootstock.

All materials and equipment are provided.

Please wear sturdy footwear and practical clothing.

Includes: Tea & coffee on arrival with the Bakery’s signature cinnamon bun, ending with lunch at the Garden Café.

"The trees which are pruned, watered and nurtured by caring hands bear the greatest fruits; it is the same with people." - Bryant H. McGill.

Join Andy ‘Apples’ Lewis, Specialist Fruit Grower, as he leads a day of winter pruning fruit trees in the garden.

The day begins by becoming acquainted with the fruit trees in the garden and your tools. Andy then guides you as you prune different trees to a variety of styles. You cover why to prune, when to prune, where to prune and how to prune different forms (espalier, step-overs, single cordons, double cordons, Belgian fence). Several species of fruit tree are worked on giving you a comprehensive understanding of how to prune fruit regardless of the size of your balcony, garden, allotment or farm.

All materials and equipment are provided.

Please wear sturdy footwear and practical clothing.

Includes: Tea & coffee on arrival with the Bakery’s signature cinnamon bun, ending with lunch.

Wake up with Arthur Cole he leads you on an early morning foray through the snowdrops and early bulbs from a bee’s perspective. The walk culminates in a warming breakfast in the Garden Café.

*Dates subject to vary according to weather conditions - you will be notified of this in advance.

Botanical illustration has played a crucial role in advancing the study of botany since De Materia Medica (approx. 50-70AD), and then with huge advances in materials and paints in the 17th Century with artists such as Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717), further finesses in the 18th Century with the likes of Pierre-Joseph Redouté (1766 - 1854), the proliferation of botanical paintings in the 19th Century with greats such as Marianne North (1830-1890) up until contemporary illustrators such as Tiffany Bozic.

Understand the purpose and variety of foliage, flowers & fruits through painting their features. Camilla Clutterbuck leads you through how to interpet plants in an artistic sense, how to mix colours and transfer what you see onto paper. This month's session focuses on the colours of harvest time.

Includes: Tea & coffee with signature cinnamon bun upon arrival, followed by lunch in the Garden Café

This event blends two key moments in the estate calendar: the late winter prune of our orchards and Wassail. Wassail is an ancient rural tradition with its sources in early pagan times. It entails visiting orchards to chase out evil spirits that may have squatted for too long in the boughs of the dormant trees, then cyder and song is offered-up to entice the good spirits to take residence in the trees and ensure a bountiful harvest. Explosive celebration is the order of the evening with hearty Somerset fare washed down with lashings of cyder.

The day begins with an introduction by Andy ‘Apples’ Lewis, Specialist Fruit Grower, who leads you over to the cyder orchards to learn the art of pruning apple trees. Lunch is served in the Farmyard Kitchen. Once you have indulged to your pleasure you are led through the flavour profiles of our extensive range of cyders (including unreleased varieties) on an exclusive tasting. On completion of the tasting you are now fully prepared for the evening’s main event: Wassail! Become a Newt for a night and join the team in shooing-out the evil spirits from the apple trees, encouraging in the benign spirits, toasting good health, quaffing cyder and breaking bread to cannon-fire and live music

All materials and equipment are provided.

Please wear sturdy footwear and practical clothing. Includes: Tea & coffee on arrival with the Bakery’s signature cinnamon bun, lunch at the Farmyard Kitchen, cyder tasting in Cyder Cellar, Wassail Supper.

Propagating one’s own plants is not only an effective and economical way of filling your garden with plants, it is also remarkably rewarding for the soul.

Our Nursery Manager, Dominic McCartney, and the Nursery Team will lead you through a variety of propagation techniques for a range of different plants at the Avalon Nursery.

Before arriving at The Newt to assume his current role, Dominic had been a supervisor in Royal Botanic Garden Kew’s Arboretum, he brings this experience and knowledge gained at one of the world’s leading gardens to this workshop. You will have access to Dominic’s and the team’s knowledge and experience and will learn to identify plants, determine the correct propagation technique for each & correct growing media, divide herbaceous material and take cuttings.

The day begins by being transported to the ‘engine room’ of the gardens, Avalon Nursery. There you are acquainted with your materials, equipment and a range of plants and their different propagation requirements before getting stuck into practical propagation including division, cuttings and seed sowing. You will take many of the plants you propagate home with you and the skills to continue propagation plants in your own garden.

All materials and equipment are provided.

Please wear sturdy footwear and practical clothing.

Includes: Tea & coffee on arrival with the Bakery’s signature cinnamon bun, ending with lunch

March gives us the perfect opportunity to adorn the home with beautiful prints made by your own fair hand. In this workshop illustrator and printmaker, Liz Clayton MA of Slow Sunday, walks you amongst the plant collections in the gardens to aid your inspiration, then leads you through how to choose your materials and create your designs to take home with you.

All materials are provided.

Includes tea/coffee, cinnamon bun, lunch in the Garden Café.

Learn the tips and tricks to successful indoor gardening no matter the size of your space. Houseplants bring life, good vibes and an increase in oxygen levels into the home.

Our indoor-growing expert leads you through: plant choices, positioning, soil considerations, feeding, watering, pest & diseases, flowering, propagation & combination planting. You will choose your preferred selection of species and plant-up an indoor planter to take home with you along with the knowledge gained from our resident expert.

Includes: Tea & coffee on arrival with the Bakery’s signature cinnamon bun, ending with lunch at the Garden Café.