About

The Kingcombe Reserve is still managed as a working farm, grazed by cattle and sheep using traditional methods without artificial fertilisers, herbicides or pesticides. The result is a glorious patchwork of fields and unimproved grassland, punctuated by thick hedges, streams, ponds, ancient green lanes and wooded areas. The natural environment also preserves the habitats of wildlife that have vanished elsewhere.
Typical wildflowers can be found in woodland and marshy areas and the grassy meadows sustain lady’s mantle, corky fruited water dropwort, pepper saxifrage, devil’s bit scabious and knapweed. The area also supports an abundance of butterflies including varieties of skipper and fritillaries. Birds are always noticeable especially with visiting summer warblers, dippers and grey wagtails.
A short distance away are some of the UK’s best preserved Bronze, Iron Age and Roman sites as well as Maiden Castle – Europe’s best preserved and most complex historical hill fort and the Jurassic coast World Heritage site is a 15min drive.
The Kingcombe Centre utilises this wonderful space and the wildlife it holds on many of its courses from identifying insects to painting the landscape and exploring hidden treasures of the past.