The Agroforestry Research Trust runs four guided tours of its Littlehempston site near Totnes in 2026, plus separate tours of the older two-acre Dartington forest garden that has been worked on since 1994 - widely described as the finest food forest in the temperate world. Each tour visits one site only: on the Littlehempston tour, that means walking through three forest gardens of varying ages, a nut orchard, and a glasshouse of subtropical edibles that is being grown as a hedge against a warming climate. What you get on a tour is plant knowledge accumulated over thirty-plus years of working the same ground. The trust also runs longer residential courses at Littlehempston: forest garden design, propagation, growing nut crops. There's a strong line of online courses too. Dates run from May to August at Littlehempston and from April to October at Dartington; both often fill well before the day and aren't refundable, so book early if you're travelling from afar.

Days, dates and times

Tours run April to October 2026 across both sites; specific dates are listed at agroforestry.co.uk​/​research-site-tours. Residential courses (Forest Gardening Design, Propagation, Growing Nut Crops) run on specific weekends through the year, with the 3rd International Food Forest & Forest Garden Symposium scheduled for November 2026. Online courses (Forest Gardening, Forest Garden Greenhouse, Nut Crops, Extended Forest Garden) can be started at any time.

About this experience

Each tour lasts two to two-and-a-half hours and visits one site only. The Littlehempston tour walks you through three forest gardens (a small one started in 2012, a half-acre garden started in 2013, and a forest garden begun in 2019​/​20 to maximise carbon storage), together with a nut orchard, the experimental forest garden greenhouse with its subtropical plantings and the on-site Edible Canopy nursery, where you can buy plants from Fran Welch. The Dartington tour walks the older two-acre forest garden, with its mature canopy, ground covers, pond and unusual edibles. Both are working research sites; both reward a slow pace. Group sizes are kept small; numbers are limited.

How to book / attend

Book online at agroforestry.co.uk under Tours. Bookings are non-refundable but can be rescheduled if the trust cancels. Email mail@agroforestry.co.uk for groups of ten or more. Directions arrive by email about a week before the tour. Pre-book; most dates fill well in advance.

Social Media

https://www.instagram.com/agroforestryresearchtrust/ https://www.facebook.com/agroforestry.co.uk/

What will participants learn or take away?

The plants in the forest gardens, by name and by use. How a productive forest garden is structured: canopy, shrub layer, perennial groundcover, vines and climbers, mushrooms, root crops. Which species have done well in a thirty-year experiment, which haven't, and why. Practical answers to your own questions about establishing a forest garden in your part of Britain or Ireland.

Website

https://www.agroforestry.co.uk

Address Summary

Littlehempston, Totnes, Devon