Our regular festivals
and events

Started in 1997 by Helen and jim Ridout and Tammi Dallaston, the gardens here have been developed over two decades by Bristol designer and educator Mike Feingold.

Field Families CIC officially took over in 2023 after his retirement, although some of us have been working here since those early days. 

The 2 acre site encompasses a mature forest garden, perennial allotment beds, willow that is harvested each year for craft work and planting, an edible flower garden, a roundhouse with an edible roof, and a memorial garden. 

We have an annual timetable of work weekends and teaching weekends to maintain and upgrade the site.

During the festival, we offer a vegan cafe, healthy non-alcoholic drinks in our pole barn, a stage, gardens planted with perennial veg and fruit and a shady forest garden to relax and recuperate. 

In the mid 90s Helen and Jim Morris-Ridout, Tammi Dallaston and a host of other volunteers created a 4 acre permaculture display garden at Lower Pertwood Farm in Wiltshire, the site of the old Big Green Gathering.

It was here that we brought together many early permaculture designers that went on to become permie names - Patrick and Cathy Whitefield, Mike Feingold, Ken Fern (Plants for a Future) and others. 

As the festival moved sites, other organisers such as Hannah Thorogood and Doug Lane came on board.

We have been on the Chepstow Racecoure site now for over 10 years, and while we no longer have a site with permanent planting, we bring instead three tents of workshops, talks and demonstrations, a temporary garden, a cafe, a pedal powered sound system and a large community of permaculture practitioners.​

Look here for our 2025 offering.