Avalon Marshes
Willows Craft Centre and Tearooms, Peat Moors Centre,
Westhay, Somerset BA6 9TT
Tel/Fax: 01458 860060
The land stretching to the west of Glastonbury Tor has
a character and atmosphere all its own. Lush green
flowery meadows, still dark ditches, damp secret fens, shady
wet fern woodlands and breeze-rippled open water fringed
with rustling reedbeds all combine to make the area so
unique. This is where you will find the Avalon Marshes and
Willows Craft Centre and Tearooms, giving you the opportunity
to explore the fascinating story of the ecology of the
Somerset Levels and enjoy excellent freshly prepared and
locally sourced food.
A series of imaginative displays describes the development of commercial peat digging, the special
trades that have developed in this environment, and the
measures that have been taken to conserve the area's flora
and fauna.
The Avalon Marshes contain a mixture of
habitats, including wet woodland, grazing marsh and fens.
These habitats are being managed to encourage and protect
the threatened wildlife species that exist here. The area is
a stronghold for elusive otters; reedbeds are beginning
to encourage rare and common wetland birds like bitterns
and marsh harriers; there are beautiful marsh orchids and
rare insects like the great silver diving beetle. Other species
like the grey heron add greatly to the character of the
wetland landscape. If you visit on a winter's day, large flocks
of wintering duck can be seen and there is the dusk
spectacle of millions of Starlings coming in to roost.
In summer you may catch a glimpse of a hobby (bird of prey) hunting
flying insects.
Informative leaflets are available detailing the
varied activities within the area and providing guides to
the various villages within the area. At Meare, for example,
is the Abbot's Fish House which once belonged to Glastonbury Abbey and stored fish caught in the
now drained Meare Pool.
Within the Avalon Marshes area are some
waymarked walks and cycling paths through the area and cycles may
be hired at the Peat Moors Centre; for the disabled, there
is carriage driving on special routes and electric
buggies available for rides through the reserves to see the peat beds.
Another major attraction here is the excellent Willow Craft Centre which provides
a showcase for a wide range of local crafts. Pottery, paintings, knitted woollen clothing
and silk flower displays are just some of them, along with award-winning jams and honey
from Rose Farm at Wedmore. The Centre also has a good selection of garden plants and
shrubs, pots and vases, as well as fresh local free range eggs.
