An environmental study centre in the heart of West Dorset. Three old buildings on the banks of the river Hooke in the hamlet of Lower Kingcombe were converted into The Kingcombe Centre which is now owned and run by a charitable trust, The Kingcombe Trust. The Centre is very fortunate to have access to the Dorset Wildlife Trust Kingcombe Meadows reserve, literally on our doorstep.

The former threshing barn at the Centre provides a light and airy multi purpose space - it acts as a painting studio, field studies classroom, and a conference room. Our new conservatory is now in use and gives greater flexibility with our daily activities and catering provision. Beech Cottage, a ruin 300 metres up the road owned by the Leggett Trust, has been rebuilt and provides additional comfortable accommodation for eight guests. It also has a meeting room for about 20 people and a conservatory with wonderful views out over the fields and the river. The Centre is very fortunate to have access to the Dorset Wildlife Trust Kingcombe Meadows reserve, literally on our doorstep. Lower Kingcombe has emerged into the 21 st century and new life has been breathed into ‘the farm that time forgot’. We hope that you will be able to experience this atmosphere for yourself during 2008.

Lower Kingcombe is a very special place. From a distance it stands out from the surrounding countryside because its hedges are wide, spreading and uncut by machinery making parts of them like strips of woodland interspersed with mature trees. The fields are a mosaic of wet rushy pasture, scrubby corners and the myriad of different species present in the fields make them look like an artist’s palette of greens. The land has never been treated with pesticides, herbicides or dosed with artificial fertilisers and the fields some with up to 150 species are spectacular.