Location

Honeygar, Westhay, Glastonbury, Somerset

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Start Date

October 2024

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Planning submitted March 2026

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​Client

Somerset Wildlife Trust

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Team​

Lead Architect: Poynton Bradbury

Architect: Clementine Blakemore

Ecology and Arboricultralist: Somerset Wildlife Trust Consultancy

Ecological Designer : Flavia Goldsworthy

Structural Engineer : Goss Structural

M&E / Sustainability Consultant : VIDA

Civil Engineer : TUMU

Quantity Surveyor : Ward Williams

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Services

RIBA Work Stages 1 to 4

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Poyton Bradley Architects:

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"It has been an inspiring collaboration with a fantastic team including Landsmith Associates Ltd and ecological planting designer Flavia Goldsworthy."

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Adam Preece, Honeygar Project Manager at Somerset Wildlife Trust:

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"We set our design team the challenging goal to design a sustainable, resilient, and delightful place for students, academics and other partners to carry out their studies. We asked for energy and water efficient buildings that are able to withstand flooding, power cuts and increasing temperatures. We wanted to use sustainable materials, including those already on site wherever possible, and we asked for all buildings to create space for nature from the outset. We’re delighted with how the team has responded to that brief and really proud of the scheme that we have submitted."

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Georgia Dent, CEO at Somerset Wildlife Trust 

"It has been great to work with such a talented, skilled and multi-disciplinary team and we're delighted with the plans for Honeygar that we've developed together. We know that these plans will allow sensitive restoration of the buildings on site, providing lots of integrated habitat for a wide range of species, some amazing spaces for people and a new lease of life for Honeygar."

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Landsmith Associates developed the landscape masterplan for the proposed Honeygar Lowland Peat Research Centre for Somerset Wildlife Trust,  working with ecological planting designer Flavia Goldsworthy and architects Poynton Bradbury Architects  and Clementine Blakemore Architects.

Located near Westhay on the Somerset Levels, Honeygar is a former dairy farm being transformed into a restored lowland peat landscape and a national centre for peatland research, innovation and public engagement.

The project focuses on the regeneration of a 1.8-hectare farmstead within a wider 81-hectare landscape undergoing ecological restoration, creating a landscape that supports research, ecological recovery and public learning.

Landscape Structure
The design draws on the distinctive geomorphology of the Somerset Levels and the Burtle landform — raised sandy ridges within the surrounding peat wetlands that historically provided dry ground in the floodplain.

The masterplan reinterprets this landscape structure by organising buildings, circulation routes and outdoor spaces along the ridge, reconnecting the historic farmstead with the wider peatland landscape while maintaining the character of the Levels.

A Learning Landscape
The landscape establishes a learning landscape in which research, ecological restoration, and public engagement are integrated.  Outdoor classrooms, research areas and accessible walking routes allow visitors, students and scientists to observe peatland restoration processes and wetland ecology directly within the landscape.  Areas of woodland management, orchard planting and urban ecology habitats provide spaces for biodiversity, education and stewardship.

Water and Ecological Restoration
A key objective of the design is to reduce the farmstead's ecological footprint. Approximately 30% of existing hardstanding is removed and replaced with permeable landscapes, planting and water systems that restore ecological function and improve infiltration. Water becomes a visible organising element across the site, creating a “story of water” through rain gardens, rills, swales and wetlands that slow, filter and store surface water while supporting wetland habitats.

Biodiversity Net Gain
The landscape strategy delivers Biodiversity Net Gain through habitat retention, enhancement and creation, including: species-rich hedgerows, hedgebanks, wetland ditches, scrub mosaics, orchard planting and creating wetland habitats

The scheme achieves:

• +23.09% habitat units

• +8,512.74% hedgerow units

• +68.94% watercourse units

Reuse and Cultural Memory
Existing farm buildings are retained, and materials from the site are reused within paths, seating and habitat structures, allowing the cultural memory of the working farmstead to remain legible within the evolving peatland landscape.