Our next event: 4th Sept.
Six Inches Of Soil
Join us for a special screening at FarmED of this British independent documentary film which shines a spotlight on soil health and regenerative farming. It tells the inspiring story of three young British farmers standing up against the industrial food system and transforming the way they produce food - to heal the soil, our health and provide for local communities. Come along to find out more and what we, as consumers, can do to support this growing movement.
Tickets £7.50 to include a slice of pizza. Drinks will be availabe to buy at the cafe.
Book your tickets here. Booking is essential!
We expect this to be a very popular event and numbers are limited so book now!
June 2026
Open Gardens Day
for Wildlife Friendly Gardens
We’re looking for gardens which welcome lots of wildlife to take part in this brand new event which we’re organising for June 2026. How about yours?
Anything from wild areas to pollinator friendly wildflowers, hedgehog holes, wildlife ponds (big or tiny), bird feeders, nesting boxes, bug hotels and lots more…
We’d like to see a wide range of gardens to inspire everyone, so even if your garden is small it may be just what we’re looking for!
We’re starting to look at gardens now so email us and we'll send one of our friendly garden experts to come and have a chat with you.
Limited to Ascott, Milton and Shipton villages for now but we may expand in the future.
Our past talks and events:
June 2025
Willow weave a Swift!
Andy Goodwin of Willow Coppice came along to teach a group of us how to weave a swift from willow. Fortunately he was very patient and we had a fabulous afternoon/evening in a garden, helped along by a few glasses of rose!
Look out for it again next year!
June 2025
Wild About Swifts
by Edward Mayer
We had well over 100 people at Edward Mayer's fascinating talk about swifts - we almost ran out of chairs! Informative, inspiring and peppered with entertaining swift anecdotes, we learned so much about these truly amazing birds.
If you'd like more information about putting up a swift box or about swift calls to attract swifts to your boxes (yes - they really do work!), do contact us.
May 2025
A Dawn Chorus Walk
led by Robin Parsons
and Rebecca Ward
The dawn chorus is truly spectacular at this time of year so we were really pleased to team up with Bruern Farms for this very special event - a dawn chorus walk in Foxholes Nature Reserve followed by breakfast at the Bruern Farms Cafe.
Look out for it again next year!
April 2025
'A Hedgehog Whodunnit'
by Tom Moorhouse
Based around Tom's book, 'Ghosts in the Hedgerow - a Hedgehog Whodunnit', this talk took the unlikely format of a murder mystery. But who could possibly have it in for the beloved hedgehog? The suspects were rounded up for investigation - Mr Clarkson the chauffeur, Tommy Brock the badger, Major Geddoff the landowner and Mrs Nymbies the local parishioner. Spoiler alert - it was probably all of them acting together!
This was a funny but nevertheless serious look at the myriad of threats facing hedgehogs and, most importantly, what we can all do with very little effort to encourage them back into our gardens.
February 2025
Wildlife Friendly Gardening
by Rhiannon Young
Wildlife has the same needs as we do: water, food and shelter. In this talk Rhiannon shared tips and ideas as to how we can incorporate these into our own gardens to turn them into vibrant habitats for all sorts of wildlife ... and still have a beautiful garden. It's a great way to protect and connect with nature!
November 2024
Stargazing in The Wychwoods
by Tony Lewis
A fascinating talk about what we can see in our amazing night skies and how important it is to protect them from light pollution.
Sadly the weather gods were against us and we couldn't go outside but amateur astronomers from CNAAG set up their telescopes at the back of the hall for us which was really interesting.
We'll have another go soon!
October 2024
Wild about Wildflowers
by Ian Wilkinson
Ian talked to us about his experiences growing wildflowers at nearby FarmEd and explained the importance of sowing wildflowers for pollinators and insects, wildlife generally and soil health. With the huge area covered by gardens in the UK we have the perfect opportunity to go some way to replacing the wildflower meadows that have been lost to intensive agriculture since the 1930's.
Ian also very kindly supplied some wildflower seed for us to take home and get planting!
September 2024
Hedgehogs - in need of our help!
by Stephen Powles
This talk covered what we can all do in our own back gardens to help this threatened animal, from putting out water and food, to avoiding potential threats such as poisoning, strimming, burning and drowning - it's a dangerous life being a hedgehog!
But the number one most important thing we can do is 'Get Connected'! We need to connect our gardens with our neighbours so that hedgehogs are free to roam the large distances they need to forage for food and to breed.
We learned about nearby Kirtlington's Hedgehog Highway which has received national press coverage! Let's do the same in The Wychwoods!