No two days are ever the same on The Dunster Estate, and each new season brings a whole range of sights, sounds and smells which make your visit a different experience every time.
Spring
- Look for fresh, luminous green foliage making many of the Estate’s hedges and woodlands glow on sunny days.
- Wildflowers growing in the hedgerows and meadows all around the Dunster Estate.
- New born lambs in Dunster Deer Park, and other fields around the estate.
- The return of the bird song chorus, as they make their nests and provide the background music to any visit to the Dunster Forest.
- The tallest magnolia in the country displaying its distinctive pink flowers at the end of April/beginning of may at the Tall Trees Trail.
- Walks on the hilltops when you can feel the first warm rays from the sun that tell you summer is on its way at last!
Summer
- Walk amongst glorious purples and yellows on the heaths as the heather and gorse come into flower.
- Look out for an abundance of wildlife, including the chance to hear nightjars ‘churring’ to each other at dusk, along heathland edges and at forest clearings.
- Wood Ant nests become a hive of activity during these warmer months and are fascinating to watch as they go about their busy work.
- Take slow summer strolls along the tall trees trail, taking time to enjoy the shaded peace and quiet amongst our giant trees.
- Breathe in the warm, sweet smell of the pines and firs in the forest on hot sunny days.
Autumn
- See the amazing autumn colours across the Dunster Estate, and hear the rustle as you follow our walks with their colourful carpet of leaves at this time.
- Quieter visitors to the Dunster Forest may be rewarded with the opportunity to get close to the deer herds that find shelter in the trees here. Listen out for them as they call to each other during the ‘rutting’ season.
- Note the change in the smells of the forest, as the summer vegetation, now fallen, begins to break down- look out for the fascinating display of fungi!
- Enjoy a day’s cycling or walking in the optimum weather conditions at this time of year.
Winter
- Come to the Estate office to buy your freshly cut Christmas tree, straight from the forest.
- Take a bracing winter walk along one of our waymarked trails and earn that seat by a log fire, with a cup of tea in hand, in Dunster.
- Look at the snow covered rooftops of Dunster from the viewpoint in Conygar Wood.
- Take in the crystal clear views for mile around from one of the Estate’s hilltops.