The nature and wildlife available at your fingertips at Butterwell is really what makes us a unique destination for your holiday. Butterwell Farm offers its guests a beautiful and peaceful setting from which to appreciate unspoilt nature and wildlife in our private grounds.

Butterwell is designated as A Special Area of Conservation (River Camel), An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and A Site of Specific Scientific Interest (River Camel and tributaries). We also have what is referred to specifically as Ancient Woodlands. For this reason it our priority to manage our land in an environmentally sensitive and sustainable way so we can preserve this natural gem for future generations of visitors to enjoy.

Butterwell is home to an abundance of wildlife including otters, foxes, deer, badger, stoat, squirrel, mole, woodpecker, buzzard, dipper, kingfisher, heron, egret, willow tit, coal tit, jay, sparrow hawk, bitten, owls and even migrating Canadian geese! Not to mention our amphibians residents including terrapins, frogs, toads, grass snakes and adders. Most of these wonderful creatures have chosen to rear their young right here at Butterwell. View the gallery to see some examples.

The River Camel

Our finest asset at Butterwell is the River Camel. The Camel River features some of the most pristine habitats in Cornwall with outstanding water quality and a wealth of wildlife. Its surrounding banks, woodlands and marshes have been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) because it contains plant, animal or insect life that is threatened or rare throughout Europe.

The wild tor topped heights of Bodmin Moor, with its extensive areas of peat bog and clear feeder streams, is the source of two of the county’s principal rivers the Fowey and the Camel. The River Camel goes on through Bodmin and Wadebridge to the Atlantic Ocean at the North coast sites of Padstow and Rock.

Many rare species of plant and animal life are found in and around the River including otters, kingfishers and scarce greater and lesser horseshoe bats as well as many fish species including the very rare lampreys – a large eel like creature.

The River Camel is an important stronghold for the otter one of Britain’s rarest and shyest mammals. Otters are regularly seen and travel the whole length of the river in their search for food, and they often choose Butterwell to make their home.

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Through the Woodland Trust, Forestry Commission and also self-funded means we have planted well over 1000 trees at Butterwell Farm, creating new woodland areas and also replacing the ash die-back. We have planted common alder, flowering cherry, mountain ash, ordinary ash, hawthorn, wild cherry, beech, aspin, small leafed lime, silver birch and oak.

We also work hard to maintain and improve important features and habitats such as:

  • Woodland and grassland restoration, paying particular attention to the natural glades.
  • Planting new trees along the riverbank to improve stability and erosion, which in turn protects our extensive wetlands, which are home to an abundance of birdlife and wildlife.
  • Maintain our ponds, which are considered of high wildlife value.
  • Control of invasive species, such as Himalayan Balsam, to enable other native species to thrive.
  • Hedgerow restoration and management.