Coates English Willow Visitor Centre — Attraction in Stoke St. Gregory

We visited this morning with the intention of picking up some willow baskets that we could serve Scampi and Chips to our guests. On arrival, we headed to the car park and found an appropriate number of accessible parking spaces available.

We headed off down the gradual slope, suitable for wheelchairs towards the main willow shop, along the way we passed a number of other shops (some sadly closed during our visit), there was a flower shop, an antique store, a chocolate shop, a bridal wear store (coming soon) and a couple of cafes.

Inside the willow store, we were warmly greeted by the lady at the checkout and we were able to spend plenty of time examining our options before we found a suitable candidate for our needs. I also picked up a "build your own basket kit" with the intention of giving it a go at some point soon, if it's easy enough, who knows maybe I'll buy enough willow and build my own coffin!!

The lady at the checkout was most helpful and friendly, especially when she found out we were local. We were pointed in the direction of the Alice in Wonderland trail where numerous art installations made of willow depicting the Alice in Wonderland story can be seen (12 in total - we found 3, we are soooo bad at this).

It's a fantastic location, you'll have a great day out there and don't forget to visit the museum for an insight into the manufacture of all...

Splendid find. A well presented museum giving lots of information about the history and uses of willow through the ages, samples of willow, charcoal etc. Lots of different woven examples from baby rattles, bee skeps and eel traps to bicycle and hot air balloon baskets. There's a video room where you can watch a 40 minute explanation of your processes involved. There are three different trails to walk on and a hunt the children can do spotting various willow sculptures, do watch out for muddy patches after any rain and there are cows and sheep in some of the fields. Dogs must be kept on a lead at all times which is fair enough, there are adequate poo bins and plenty of interesting sniffs for dogs. Well behaved dogs are welcome in the cafe, ours also enjoyed the shops. Wheelchair access is good for the shops, cafe and toilet and some of the walks. It wasn't busy but then we were there on a grey Wednesday in late September but I imagine if you're there in summer holidays you be advised to book tickets especially for thre are any weaving...

I would just like to say, that having ordered a wicker coffin for my fathers funeral, I saw it for the first time today at the funeral. It was absolutely beautiful and made with such skill. It really made me smile on such a difficult and emotional day. My father was a dentist/carpenter/plumber/electrician and general craftsman. He always wanted to be burried under a tree in a forest in a wicker coffin. He would have been absolutely chuffed to bits with the skill and craftsmanship of he had seen it. I couldn’t have been more thankful with the customer service right from the start and the way in which my order was taken. Although my father is burried in Oxfordshire I feel proud to have brought a beautiful piece of Somerset with me to his final resting place. Thank you to the whole team and all involved in this process! Best...