‘Planting and growing increasing numbers of trees is the scientific solution to Earth’s environmental dilemma.’ - Richard St. Barbe Baker.

Planting trees isn’t just essential to the health of the environment, it is remarkably rewarding for the soul. In this final Hort Course for the year, Head Gardener Stephen Herrington leads you through the correct way to plant trees.

The day begins with a trip to the nursery at Avalon where you are led through the fundamentals of planting and staking trees of different species and sizes. The second part of the day covers pruning a selection of different climbers and covers when, how and where to prune them.

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.

Join us on Apple Day for our celebratory Apple Day Dinner. Hosted by Greg Carnell and the cyder team, it promises to be an indulgent evening celebrating our favourite crop with friends. Expect an apple-themed tasting menu, live music, talks from the team and an open cellar to look around before and after the dinner.

Complimentary draught Gravity Cyder and Fine Cyder are included all evening, with our full range of cyders available to order.

MENU to follow.

Make sure you visit this weekend during apple harvest season, for one of our favourite events in the Estate calendar.

‘Apple Day’, which actually falls on 21 October - the Friday before the weekend - was started in 1990 by Common Ground. Apple Day aims to raise “awareness not only of the importance of orchards to our landscape and culture, but also in the provenance and traceability of food” - these are philosophies that we at The Newt also hold dear. Plus, we really like an excuse to celebrate apples.

The weekend shall be a two-day celebration of all things apple; from juice pressing to apple games, displays, recipes, cyder tastings and tractor tours through the orchards. Expect live music and DJs, apple-themed menus as well as our ever popular hog roasting on a spit over fire for the carnivores!

Cyder is the blood that runs through the Newt’s veins, it carries within it the very essence of what the estate is about: Somerset, apples, responsible stewardship of the land, heritage, horticulture, experimentation, creativity and sensory experience.

Join the Cyder Team as they lead a workshop on cyder making. You will learn about the history of cyder making in Somerset, harvest the apples in the orchards, taste the different characteristics of some of our 70 different varieties of cyder apples, press your own juice by hand and start the cyder making process in a demi-john to then take home with you as well as a tasting pack of our own cyders.

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

Our 65 acres of apples orchards have erupted in an explosion of colour, as the apples become ripe and ready for harvesting for the Cyder Press. We're inviting you be part of the next juicy chapter in our story, every Saturday and Sunday this October, with guided tractor trailer tours with a member of our expert team.

Rides depart from the Kitchen Garden every 30 minutes from 10am, with last departure at 3.15pm. Booking required at the Threshing Barn on the day of your visit.

Join us in the Cellar this October witha complimentary tour, in celebration of an abundant apple harvest. Our artisan cyders are made with 100% apple juice, using advanced cold-press processes in our state-of-the-art Cyder Press & Cellar. Discover more about the history of Somerset cyder making on a daily tour with our expert team - held every day at 12pm & 2pm, lasting 45 minutes. Advance booking is advised.

Fungi is a fascinating kingdom. There are over 15,000 species of fungi in the UK alone. Some are edible, some are inedible and others can be deadly. However, the properties of fungi do not stop at the plate - this extraordinary group holds some of the answers to the beginning and evolution of life on this planet. They have medicinal uses, religious and ritualistic significance, economic weight, and folklore spanning back to times before the written word.

Join our fungi expert on a forage across the Estate, identifying fungi species and foraging different mushrooms. In the second part of the workshop, you learn how to sow your own oyster mushroom spores in straw to continue growing indoors at home and how to set your own shiitake dowels in logs to continue growing outdoors at home. We shall also offer our chefs top tips on how to cook and preserve your mushrooms at home.

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

Join Arthur Cole on an early morning walk through the trees. Learn more about these ancient parts of the estate - including how we manage our woodland, make charcoal, put up nesting boxes and strive to maintain and enchance a balanced woodland ecosystem.

The walk culminates with a seasonal breakfast in the Garden Café, as the rest of the estate wakes up for the day.

Join our Woodland Team for ‘A Day in the Woods’ we shall make charcoal and biochar using a traditional ring kiln and also explore the woodland living-networks and how to protect and conserve the wildlife that depend upon them. (We shall learn how to erect birdboxes at different heights for different species and how to make hibernacula for overwintering woodland creatures.) We will cover woodland craft and coppice hazel to make wattle fencing.

We advise wearing appropriate footwear and sturdy clothes that you don’t mind getting dirty.

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

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.

Enter Maiko’s Christmas craft grotto and learn how to make christmas cards. The second part of the workshop will teach you elementary calligraphy 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.

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.

Make this Christmas special, in true Somerset style. Pack up your finest wares and walking boots, and come spend the festive season with us. Our team have lined up a ho-ho-host of treats, experiences and exclusive dinners made to remember over a four-night stay, starting from either 23 or 24 December.

Our Christmas package includes:

• A festive minibar waiting for you in your room
• Breakfast each morning, including celebration breakfast on Christmas Day and extended brunch on Boxing Day
• Festive tea and cakes throughout stay
• Live music every day
• Druid Tree Walk with mulled cyder and mince pies
• Christmas Eve celebration dinner
• Christmas Day 5-course lunch with wine flight in The Botanical Rooms, followed by treats and nibbles throughout the house
• Festive hamper for you to enjoy in your room or one of our lounges on Christmas Day evening<
• Boxing Day celebration dinner

...enjoy all of this as well as our usual Estate experiences, daily tours, spa and shops.

See in 2023 with a party in the country. Enjoy a three-night stay - with a house party and our annual New Year's Day Croquet Championship.

Our New Year package includes:

• A stock of festive in-room mini bar treats upon arrival
• Breakfast each morning
• Guided Druid Tree Dusk Walk
• Champagne and Canapé Welcome Reception, Friday 30th December 2022
• Three Course Welcome Dinner, Friday 30th December 2022
• House Party on New Year’s Eve (No Under 14s)
• Champagne and Canape Reception
• Four-Course Gala Dinner in The Botanical Rooms with Wine
• Live Entertainment
• House Party at Hadspen
• New Year’s Day Brunch
• 12 month Newt Membership

...enjoy all of this as well as our usual Estate experiences, daily tours, spa and shops.

Join us at the hotel any day of the week for Afternoon Tea at The Botanical Rooms.

Sit back in the Glass or Oak room and sample a range of teas including Darjeeling First Flush ('the Champagne of teas'), Assam Mangalam or fresh garden mint.

To eat, there is a selection of delights devised by our chefs. Finger sandwiches that change with the seasons, including with Stavordale cheddar or Dorset smoked tout, and sweet treats crafted by our Head Pastry Chef - cakes, macarons and of course, scones with jam and clotted cream. We'll also be showcasing seasonal cocktails by our bartenders, made using herbs, fruits and botanicals from the garden.

To work off your tea, the croquet lawn and badminton court will be set for you to try your hand at these quintessential afternoon games.

Afternoon Tea is served every day, in sittings at 3pm or 3.30pm. £38pp includes complimentary tea refills, with additional drinks available to order including cocktails, Champagne and sparkling. Add a glass of Babylonstoren Sprankel for £12pp.

Also includes complimentary access to the Gardens. Booking is essential.

Afternoon Tea Autumn Menu £38 per guest (£50 with a glass of Sprankel)

FINGER SANDWICHES Egg mayonnaise & garden leaves Dorset smoked trout & creamed horseradish Stavordale Cheddar & grape chutney

BUTTERMILK SCONES with Cornish clotted cream and strawberry & rose jam

SWEET Kuri squash macaron Blackberry & dark chocolate choux Almond cake with Babylonstoren clementine & lemon verbena

_Served with your choice of _

Traditional Black Teas:

ENGLISH BREAKFAST A blend of the best black teas from Assam, Kenya & Sri Lankan

EARL GREY Sri Lankan black tea, red cornflowers & natural bergamot

DARJEELING - 1ST FLUSH Light, fruity & floral, the 'Champagne of teas'

'MARGARET'S HOPE'IDARJEELING - 2ND FLUSH Full of fruity notes & muscatel character, from the Himalayas

ASSAM MANGALAM Enticing caramel aromas, malty flavour & hint of spice

LAPSANG SOUCHONG Strong & smoky lapsang from Fujian province

Babylonstoren Teas:

HONEYBUSH It has a subtle herbal-floral taste, a slight sweetness & an alluring honey aroma

ROOIBOS Also known as Red Bush, this tea has an herbal and fruity taste and distinctive red colour

Wellbeing Teas:

CHAMOMILE

Rose petals are added to whole chamomile flowers with smoothing lavender, a floral blend

JASMINE PEARLS Green tea mixed with freshly picked jasmine

MAO FENG GREEN Soft, fresh, easy drinking, rich & subtly sweet with a great depth of flavour

FRESH MINT handpicked from our Stable Yard Garden

BLOOD ORANGE, TURMERIC & GINGER A fiery fragrant infusion, a citrus hit of blood orange with ginger root, infused with turmeric

DANDELION, CLEAVER & ROSE A slight bitterness of dandelion, softened by the calming warmth of fragrant rose petals

LEMON BALM, LAVENDER & ROSEMARY An uplifting infusion of fragrant Lemon balm, gentle Lavender & Rosemary