Forest of Imagination Set to Transform Entry Hill as an immersive Art-Nature-Community Park

From 23 September until 5 October 2025, the much-loved Forest of Imagination festival will transform the former Entry Hill Golf Course in Bath into a free immersive landscape of art, nature and community.

Themed ‘Imagining the Future of the Forgotten Land’, the festival will create a welcoming environment for creativity, play and discovery – a place to reconnect with nature, share ideas, and take part in positive action for the community.

Turning Entry Hill into an Art–Nature–Community Park, this magical experience will include interactive and creative installations, sensory trails, outdoor performances and hands-on workshops for all ages – each one inviting collective ecological imagination in response to the climate and nature emergencies.

The event is designed collaboratively with local businesses and communities, ensuring that it is made with the people of Bath and not just for them. Easily accessible by walking or cycling for local residents, visitors will wander through a landscape of creative installations on each of the old golf course’s ‘greens’ – inviting curious minds to explore, reflect, and imagine the site’s future.

Amongst the highlights created by local artists and creative organisations will include:

• From Here I Can Sense Nature and See the City: Outdoor classroom and viewpoint – a shelter for creative learning overlooking Bath’s skyline (FCBStudios and Bath Spa University Architect students)
• Mesmerine 111™ and the Owl Trance Bench– a trance-inducing 3D soundscape (Martyn Ware & Charles Stooke with Grant Associates, Matthew Leece and Bath Spa University students)
• Listening Horns– sound sculptures revealing hidden ecologies (artist Kathy Hinde)
• Earth Club Field Station – nature-based imaginative learning for children (Patchlarks and Hannah McDowall)
• Wild Play – Creatures of the Anthropocene – evolving play, making and storytelling (Holly Le-Var and Morgane Shaban)
• LivingTree – a participatory social sculpture (Andrew Amondson)
• Bog Oil Mirror – a contemplative ecological artwork (Matthew Leece)
• Reclaiming the Green – a participatory meadow planting labyrinth (Grant Associates)
• Connected imaginations – inviting ways of appreciating the city landscape (Bath Preservation Trust)
• Forest Amphitheatre – a collection of eco-inspired installations (Bath Spa University architecture students)
• Community projects will also feature, including Clay Forest, Rabbit Holes Collective, Out of the Woods, Be Hope workshops, and Habitat City.

The annual Forest of Imagination event was conceived in 2012 by Andrew Grant, founder of landscape architects Grant Associates, and Dr. Penny Hay, Professor of Imagination at Bath Spa University. Other key founding partners include House of Imagination, Bath Spa University and architects Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios.

Andrew Grant, founder at Grant Associates, says:

“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 shows how cities can respond creatively to climate and nature emergencies. Designing cities with nature in mind is how we build the ecology systems of the future.”

Dr Penny Hay, Artist, Professor of Imagination at Bath Spa University and Co-founder of Forest of Imagination / House of Imagination, adds:

“Forest of Imagination is an invitation for everyone to fall in love with nature through our collective imagination, opening up spaces of possibility where children, young people and communities can co-create, play, and learn alongside artists and nature. After twelve years, the magic and wonder of nature, imagination and creativity shines brightly in the Forest of Imagination.”

Other partners involved in this year’s Forest of Imagination include, BANES Council, Bathscape, The Egg Theatre, Bath Preservation Trust, Bath Community Kitchen, Avon Wildlife Trust, local schools, residents’ associations and volunteers.

With permission from BANES, Forest of Imagination is transforming Entry Hill into a living, breathing proof of concept for a permanent Forest of Imagination: an Arts and Nature Park in Bath – a centre for arts, ecology and community, and an international beacon of Bath as a creative, ecological landscape City, a City of Imagination.