A better welcome!
A better welcome is something Westonbirt, The National Arboretum has needed for a long time.
Thanks to funding from individuals, trusts and foundations, along with £500,000 from Biffa Award and £1.9 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund, work on the Welcome Building will start in summer 2013.
We have full planning permission and our team will work with architects, contractors and interpretation specialists to complete the project.
A better visit for you
- Less queuing! Having parked in our new car park, you’ll pay on foot or show your membership card
- Sign up to become members and get information about events and activities in one place
- Borrow mobility scooters or use the toilets before your visit.
Showing off, Victorian-style!
Victorian creator Robert Holford would have personally introduced the arboretum to his guests – we’d like to do the same for you using the Welcome Building.
The position of the new Welcome Building means that you’ll enter both Silk Wood and the Old Arboretum nearer to Holford’s original gateways.
The Welcome Building has been sensitively designed and positioned so that it complements the landscape – the trees will still do all the ‘talking’.
Telling stories
The Welcome Building will share stories about plant collecting expeditions from historic and modern times and will explore our management of tree pests and diseases and our important climate change trials.
Westonbirt Arboretum’s mission ‘to connect people with trees’ draws on a combination of conservation, learning and working with different groups of people - we’ll bring these elements out through activities including volunteering and community engagement projects.
At a glance
Westonbirt’s history and heritage will no longer be hidden in archives!
More toilets and easier access to mobility scooters and wheelchairs from the new car park
You’ll be closer to Silk Wood, via Skilling Gate, and closer to the Old Arboretum, via Down Gate
Work will start on the new Welcome Building in summer 2013 and we hope to complete construction in summer 2014.
What's happening now
Sophie Nash, Project Officer, keeps us up-to-date with developments on the blog...
