A place in the world
Westonbirt Arboretum
Westonbirt is the national arboretum near Tetbury, fifteen thousand trees across six hundred acres, famous for its autumn maples and quiet the rest of the year. Here is what to see, how to visit, and when to come.
At a glance
- How to visit
- Open to the public and ticketed, daily through the year except Christmas Day. Booking is not usually needed except on peak autumn weekends.
- Where
- Near Tetbury, Gloucestershire, on the A433.
- Best time to visit
- Year round, but famous for autumn colour from mid-October to mid-November, when the Japanese maples turn.
- How long to spend
- Half a day to walk the rides; a full day in autumn.
- Parking
- On-site.
- Getting there
- Nearest stations Kemble and Yate, each about twenty minutes by taxi. By car, on the A433, near the M4 and M5.
- Dog friendly
- Partly: dogs on leads on the Downs and off the lead in Silk Wood, but not in the Old Arboretum.
- Family friendly
- Yes; there is the Treetop Walkway, play areas and room to run.
Things to do in Westonbirt Arboretum
The tree collection
Some fifteen thousand trees of around two and a half thousand kinds, gathered from across the world over nearly two centuries and laid out along seventeen miles of cut rides, in the Old Arboretum and the wilder Silk Wood across the valley.
The autumn colour
Westonbirt holds the national collection of Japanese maples, and in October and November the Acer Glade and Maple Loop turn to one of the great autumn displays in the country, the one time the quiet end of the county draws a real crowd.
The STIHL Treetop Walkway
A walkway three hundred metres long, the longest of its kind in the country, carrying you up among the canopy as much as thirteen metres above the valley floor. It opened in 2016 and is the easy highlight with children.
The history
The arboretum was begun in 1829 by the Victorian landowner Robert Holford, who had the land, the money and the patience that planting trees requires. Forestry England keeps it now.
Visiting Westonbirt Arboretum: parking, getting there, when to go
Westonbirt lies on the A433 a few miles south west of Tetbury, six hundred acres of planted woodland in the gentle south of the Cotswolds. It is open and ticketed, daily through the year except Christmas Day, and you can usually turn up and pay; the exception is the peak autumn weekends, when timed tickets are best booked ahead. Admission costs more at weekends, on bank holidays and through the autumn.
There is parking on-site. The nearest stations are Kemble and Yate, each about twenty minutes by taxi; by road it is on the A433, easily reached from the M4 and M5. Dogs come on leads on the open Downs and off the lead in Silk Wood, but the Old Arboretum is kept dog-free.
Westonbirt Arboretum questions, answered
- Is Westonbirt open all year?
- Yes. The arboretum is open to the public and ticketed, daily through the year except Christmas Day. You can usually turn up and pay, though timed tickets are best booked ahead for the busy autumn weekends.
- When is the best time for autumn colour at Westonbirt?
- Roughly from mid-October to mid-November, when the Japanese maples turn. It is the most popular and most crowded time, and the one when booking ahead is worth it.
- Is Westonbirt dog friendly?
- Partly. Dogs are welcome on leads on the Downs and off the lead in Silk Wood if they are well behaved, but they are not allowed in the Old Arboretum or at events.
- Where is Westonbirt Arboretum?
- Near Tetbury in Gloucestershire, on the A433. The nearest stations are Kemble and Yate, each about twenty minutes by taxi.
The rest of the year it is mostly empty and the better for it, a wood you can walk in for a morning and meet almost no one, the older trees standing where men long dead decided they should.
A man who plants an avenue knows he will not see it finished. That is the Cotswolds temperament in a single act: do the slow thing well, for the people who come after, and do not expect to be thanked for it.
The story moves through this world. Begin Chapter One →