Woodland-Led Planting Design for Calcot Tree Houses | Case Study

Calcot Manor Hotel & Spa – Tree Houses

Location: Tetbury, Gloucestershire
Scope: Woodland-led planting design, wildflower specification, and low-impact access integration

Project aims

• Create a woodland setting sympathetic to the existing hotel and spa landscape

• Provide safe access for guests and staff while minimising soil compaction

• Restore planting disturbed during construction and mitigate for removals

• Support Calcot’s wider rewilding direction through habitat-led planting design

Design approach

• Light-touch access: retained routes with selective diversions/extensions, using no-dig construction where tree roots constrain excavation

• Layered woodland planting: canopy tree additions + native/near-native understorey shrubs + field layer woodland flora, ferns and grasses suited to dry shade and base-rich soils

• Targeted wildflower mixes: shade-tolerant and pollinator-supportive mixes placed where conditions are appropriate

Planting palette (highlights)

Trees: Fagus sylvatica, Carpinus betulus, Acer campestre, Betula pendula, Ulmus ‘Sapporo Autumn Gold’
Shrubs/climbers: Corylus avellana, Cornus sanguinea, Euonymus europaeus (+ ‘Red Cascade’), Viburnum opulus, Viburnum lantana, Ilex aquifolium, Ligustrum vulgare, Rhamnus cathartica, Salix cinerea, Lonicera periclymenum
Field layer: Primula vulgaris, Digitalis purpurea, Campanula trachelium, Galium odoratum, Ajuga reptans ‘Purpurea’, Melica uniflora, Luzula pilosa, Deschampsia caespitosa, Asplenium scolopendrium, Polystichum aculeatum, Dryopteris filix-mas ‘Crispa’

Result

A woodland setting that reads as natural and established, designed to strengthen biodiversity over time through layered habitat structure, resilient shade planting, and careful protection of woodland soils and roots.

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