We are very pleased to tell you that we have organised not one but two visits to The Newt in Somerset. Formerly the Hadspen estate, this is a tremendously exciting and ambitious garden restoration which is being carried out with immaculate attention to detail. The estate includes a kitchen garden, a fragrance garden, colourful borders and a series of cascades, ponds and lakes. At the heart of the garden is a walled parabola containing an apple tree maze, with varieties from all over the UK. There is also extensive woodland and orchards with over 3,000 cider apple trees.

We know there will be huge interest in seeing this garden but The Newt can only accommodate 25 people on each garden tour. We are therefore offering two trips to The Newt, one on Tuesday April 21 and one on Wednesday October 7. You can book on one visit or the other but not on both.

Our visit will start at 10.30am with a tour of the garden and orchards. This will be followed by lunch, generously provided by The Newt, which will showcase the best fresh local produce and may include some cider! After lunch there will be a chance to explore the woodland area and visit the farm shop before our visit ends at around 4pm. In April we will see some wonderful apple blossom, while in October we will focus on the apple harvest and how the apples are made into cider.

This visit is free to members and there are no restrictions on photography. As we expect it to be very popular, booking is for Guild members only and you won’t be able to bring a guest. To give everyone a chance to apply, bookings will close on Sunday January 19, so please make sure you reply by then if you want to come, and remember to specify which date you are booking for (you can put ‘either’). If the visit is oversubscribed, places will be allotted at random rather than on a first come first served basis.