Willows & Wetlands Vistor Centre

The Somerset Levels is the most important wetland area in the UK., and its unique landscape provides the perfect conditions for willow growing. Basket-making willow (or 'withies') has been grown here for two centuries, and it is now the only area left where it is still cultivated for the production of baskets, furniture, garden items and high quality artists' charcoal. Here, indeed, is the heart of the English willow industry. The Willows & Wetlands Visitor Centre is the home of P. H. Coate & Son, founded by willow grower and merchant Robert Coate in 1819, and still run by the Coate family today. When Kathleen Boobyer, daughter of well-known willow grower and furniture maker Edmund Boobyer, married Percy Coate in 1940, the joining of the two families created the present company. At the Centre visitors will find a warm welcome and the story of the willow industry, from its early days to the current times. The wonderful selection of basketware is hand-crafted from Coate's own willow by their team of skilled basketmakers.

An opportunity to explore all aspects of the willow industry and the mysteries of the levels. See craftsmen make a wide range of furniture, baskets, garden structures, all for sale in one shop. Meare Green Court Stoke St Gregory, Taunton Somerset 01823 490249

Contributed by: Julian Biggs