A once-forgotten golf course is poised for an extraordinary rebirth this autumn, transforming into a dynamic festival wonderland that celebrates creativity, nature, and community spirit. From Tuesday, September 23, to Sunday, October 5, 2025, the Forest of Imagination will animate Entry Hill with a captivating array of installations, performances, and workshops. This free event invites visitors of all ages to engage with the theme “Imagining the Future of the Forgotten Land,” reshaping a disused landscape into a thriving art-nature sanctuary.
Visitors will be immersed in sensory trails, interactive sculptures, and outdoor classrooms conceived in collaboration with local schools, businesses, and residents. These vibrant spaces offer opportunities for playful discovery, thoughtful reflection, and collective ecological action.
Festival highlights include an outdoor classroom and city-view viewpoint designed by FCBStudios and Bath Spa University students. Music and sound art take center stage with Martyn Ware and Charles Stooke presenting the trance-like 3D soundscape Mesmerine 111™, alongside the Owl Trance Bench. Sound artist Kathy Hinde’s Listening Horns sculptures invite attendees to uncover hidden ecologies through sound. Young visitors can delve into nature-inspired imaginative learning at the Earth Club Field Station, created by Patchlarks and Hannah McDowall.
READ MORE: Live: Police Respond to Illegal Rave in Somerset
READ MORE: School where every child belongs hailed for inclusive atmosphere
The festival also showcases innovative projects such as Wild Play – Creatures of the Anthropocene, a playful and evolving storytelling experience by Holly Le-Var and Morgane Shaban, and LivingTree, an engaging participatory sculpture by Andrew Amondson. Matthew Leece’s Bog Oil Mirror offers a contemplative ecological journey, while meadow labyrinth Reclaiming the Green, designed by Grant Associates, highlights the beauty of native planting. Bath Spa University architecture students will present eco-inspired structures at the Forest Amphitheatre, adding architectural intrigue to the natural setting.
Community-driven projects including Clay Forest, Rabbit Holes Collective, Out of the Woods, Be Hope workshops, and Habitat City will also enrich the festival’s tapestry with grassroots creativity and ecological awareness.
Founded in 2012 by Andrew Grant of Grant Associates and Dr. Penny Hay, Professor of Imagination at Bath Spa University, the festival has grown into a celebrated blend of artistic innovation and environmental stewardship. Andrew Grant emphasizes, “Entry Hill is a forgotten green lung of Bath with enormous potential. By reimagining it through the lens of art and nature, we can create a place that inspires ecological empathy, brings people together, and demonstrates how cities can creatively respond to climate and nature emergencies.”
Dr. Penny Hay adds, “Forest of Imagination invites everyone to connect deeply with nature through collective creativity. It opens spaces where children, young people, and communities co-create, play, and learn alongside artists and the environment. After twelve years, our passion for the wonder of nature and imagination shines ever brighter.”
Supported by Bath and North East Somerset Council, Bathscape, The Egg Theatre, Bath Preservation Trust, Bath Community Kitchen, and Avon Wildlife Trust, the event also serves as a promising pilot for a permanent Arts and Nature Park in Bath—envisioned as an ongoing hub of creativity, ecology, and community connection.