Wildwood Grove
A suppressed agricultural wetland and spring-fed headwater system in the upper River Exe catchment
Wildwood Grove is a 29.08-acre agricultural holding near Dulverton, Somerset, where a suppressed wetland, spring-fed headwater system and Secondary A Aquifer meet within one documented landscape.
This is not just a land parcel.
It is a connected headwater system shaped by geology, groundwater, spring emergence, pasture, hedgerows, wet ground, watercourses and historic agricultural drainage.
Its importance comes from the way these features meet in one place.
Wildwood Grove sits at the source of a water pathway that continues beyond the holding:
Wildwood Grove → Streamcombe → River Brockey → River Exe → Exe Estuary
That makes Wildwood Grove relevant from the source, not only within its own boundary.
A real agricultural holding with suppressed wetland function
Wildwood Grove has been shaped by agriculture.
The holding includes established pasture, field boundaries, hedgerows, access routes, agricultural buildings, ditches, wet ground and drainage features.
That history matters.
The wetland function has not disappeared. It has been suppressed by historic land management and agricultural drainage.
Because that drainage history is documented, the opportunity can be understood through evidence rather than assumption.
Wildwood Grove is a place where land use, water movement, wetland function and catchment connection can be read together.
Water begins here
Wildwood Grove sits in the upper River Exe catchment.
Water emerges through spring-fed and groundwater-influenced conditions before moving through the holding and into the wider river system.
The land sits on the Baggy Sandstones Formation, formed of sandstone, siltstone and mudstone, and is associated with a Secondary A Aquifer.
That physical setting matters.
The aquifer, geology and soils help explain why water behaves as it does here, why wet ground is present, and why Wildwood Grove should be understood as a connected headwater landscape.
A site where recognised pressures meet
Wildwood Grove does not sit in isolation.
The holding lies within recognised environmental pressure layers relating to agriculture, water quality, biodiversity, catchment function and climate resilience.
That does not mean Wildwood Grove is being treated as the cause of those pressures.
It means the site contains the physical features through which those pressures become relevant: spring-fed water movement, wet ground, drainage infrastructure, ditches, watercourses, soils, vegetation and downstream connection.
The significance is cumulative.
Agriculture, water, biodiversity, climate and catchment pressures meet within the same physical system.
That is why Wildwood Grove deserves to be assessed as more than an isolated field.
Historic drainage created the opportunity
Wildwood Grove contains documented agricultural drainage infrastructure.
That drainage changed how water moves through the holding and has suppressed the natural wetland function of the site.
This is not a vague restoration idea.
It is a documented physical system with clear evidence of headwater hydrology, drainage modification, wet ground, environmental pressure relevance and downstream catchment connection.
The opportunity is to recognise what the land already shows:
Wildwood Grove is a headwater landscape where hydrological reconnection, wetland restoration, riparian habitat recovery and wider catchment benefit belong together.
Why Wildwood Grove matters
Wildwood Grove brings together the features that make a headwater site valuable for nature recovery:
a real agricultural holding with documented site evidence
suppressed wetland function
spring-fed headwater hydrology
Secondary A Aquifer influence
wet ground, ditches and watercourses
historic agricultural drainage infrastructure
recognised environmental pressure-layer relevance
direct connection to Streamcombe, the River Brockey, the River Exe and the Exe Estuary
relevance to freshwater recovery, wetland restoration, riparian habitat, natural water management, biodiversity, climate resilience and catchment function
This website sets out the evidence so Wildwood Grove can be properly understood, properly assessed and properly considered.
Wildwood Grove is a suppressed agricultural wetland and spring-fed headwater system with clear nature recovery and catchment relevance.