Located near Bruton in the county of Somerset, South West England, the farm house dates from about 1740.

The farm was a dairy farm, typical of this part of Somerset which is famous for its milk and cheese (Cheddar is not far away!). Now owned by the Davies family it is being run as a private nature reserve.

We have 30 acres (12 ha) in all, of which 20 acres  (8 ha) are grassland with hedgerows. Most of this is grazed and cropped for hay. There are about 3 acres (>1 ha) of woodland in which there are some trees more than 100 years old with previously coppiced understorey and part which has been planted by us in the past five years.

As with most farms the wildlife diversity was seriously depleted by modern farming practices and our task is to try to restore as much as we can to the richness it used to have fifty years ago.

We have three main programmes in hand:

• Management of the land to a long term habitat management plan.
• An extensive experiment in grassland restoration techniques.
• Involvement with Somerset Wildlife Trust in setting up the Private Nature Reserve Network.

We have a page on each of these three topics. If you want to know more, contact us by Email:  iansdavies at aol.com