We are delighted and extremely grateful to be able to offer you the opportunity to join us for our annual AGM’s and Summer social at The Cotswold Wildlife Park & Gardens.

We are delighted and very grateful to be able to offer Members the opportunity to join us for our annual AGMs and summer social at the Cotswold Wildlife Park and Gardens, 2 miles south of Burford on Oxfordshire’s border with Gloucestershire.

The Wildlife Park is at the heart of the Bradwell Grove estate was purchased in 1923 by Colonel Heyworth-Savage. On his death in 1948, the estate was passed on to his grandson John Heyworth. The house and surrounding parkland were rented out for 20 years to the Oxford Regional Hospital Board and then in 1969 John Heyworth decided to start the Cotswold Wildlife Park, which opened to the public for the first time on Good Friday, 27th March, 1970. John's son Reggie took on the day-to-day management of the Wildlife Park in 1995, while his father remained much involved in the management of the farming and woodlands on the estate up until his death in 2012.

Set in over 100 acres of landscaped parkland and exhibiting over 250 species, the wildlife park is the largest privately owned zoological collection by number of species in the UK, as well as a notable garden. In 2024, the Wildlife Park welcomed 494,000 paying visitors and employs the equivalent of 150 full time staff. The Park relies totally on income from the visitors and receives no outside help from any other sources. This income supports a thriving education programme, as well as the Park’s participation in endangered species breeding programmes and a number of conservation projects both in the UK and overseas.

The Wildlife Park is at the centre of the Bradwell Grove estate, which comprises some 3000 acres including over 400 acres of woodland. The estate has been farmed organically since 2005 and in 2017 went into partnership with our organic neighbours to the west, Charles and Sam Phillips of Macaroni Farms, Eastleach. Sam Phillips is in day-to-day management control of the farming operations over the combined acreage of c. 5000 acres, which comprise organic cropping, herbal leys and other environmental schemes, and a beef livestock enterprise, with the support of Charles Hunter Smart, who has been Bradwell Grove estate’s manager since 1986. After the AGMs, Sam and Charles will each lead tours (via tractor and trailer) of the estate.  

Progamme
09:30 Arrival for registration and refreshments
10:00 Oxfordshire AGM
10:15 Gloucestershire AGM
10:30 CLA update by CLA President, Victoria Vyvyan
11:00 Introduction to the Estate by owner Reggie Heyworth
11:20 Estate Tour
13:00 Drinks Reception, back at the Wildlife Park 
13:30 Lunch
14:30 Depart or after lunch, members will be free to tour the Wildlife Park at their own pace.

Please find the Link to the Oxfordshire brochure with committee notes here and the Gloucestershire brochure here

Bookings close on Thursday 5th June. We are expecting to sell out so do book quickly.