From 23 September to 5 October 2025, the much-loved Forest of Imagination festival will return to Bath, transforming the former Entry Hill Golf Course into a free landscape of art, nature and community.
This year’s theme, Imagining the Future of the Forgotten Land, invites families to explore an immersive space filled with creativity, play and discovery. The festival aims to reconnect people with nature, spark curiosity and encourage positive action for the community.
A forgotten green space reborn
Entry Hill will become an Art–Nature–Community Park, with interactive installations, sensory trails, outdoor performances and hands-on workshops for all ages. Local residents can walk or cycle to the site, then wander through imaginative spaces across the old golf course greens, each designed to inspire reflection and creativity.
Highlights for families
Children and families will find plenty to discover. Some of the highlights include:
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From Here I Can Sense Nature and See the City – an outdoor classroom and viewpoint overlooking Bath’s skyline (FCBStudios and Bath Spa University students).
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Mesmerine 111™ and the Owl Trance Bench – a 3D soundscape blending art and technology (Martyn Ware & Charles Stooke with Grant Associates and students).
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Listening Horns – giant sound sculptures that reveal hidden ecologies (artist Kathy Hinde).
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Earth Club Field Station – imaginative, nature-based learning for children (Patchlarks and Hannah McDowall).
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Wild Play – Creatures of the Anthropocene – evolving play, making and storytelling (Holly Le-Var and Morgane Shaban).
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Reclaiming the Green – a meadow-planting labyrinth that invites families to take part in shaping the space (Grant Associates).
There will also be community-led projects, from Clay Forest and Rabbit Holes Collective to Habitat City and workshops with local artists.
Rooted in Bath’s creativity
Forest of Imagination was founded in 2012 by landscape architect Andrew Grant of Grant Associates and Dr Penny Hay, Professor of Imagination at Bath Spa University. Working with partners including House of Imagination, Bath Spa University and Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, the festival has grown into an annual celebration of creativity, ecology and community.
Andrew Grant explained that Entry Hill is “a forgotten green lung of Bath with enormous potential. By reimagining it through art and nature, we can inspire ecological empathy, bring people together, and show how cities can respond creatively to climate and nature emergencies.”
Dr Penny Hay added that the festival is “an invitation for everyone to fall in love with nature through our collective imagination. It opens up spaces where children, young people and communities can co-create, play and learn alongside artists and nature.”
Looking to the future
This year’s Forest of Imagination has support from BANES Council, Bathscape, The Egg Theatre, Bath Preservation Trust, Avon Wildlife Trust, Bath Community Kitchen, schools, residents’ associations and many volunteers.
With their backing, the Entry Hill festival is also a pilot for something bigger – a permanent Arts and Nature Park in Bath. The vision is for a living, breathing centre for arts, ecology and community, and an international showcase of Bath as a City of Imagination.
Families can look forward to a magical, free day out that combines creativity, play and nature – and perhaps glimpse the future of Entry Hill as a lasting home for imagination in Bath.
