Gosling Sike - a nature hub connecting people & wildlife
Gosling Sike brings people, farming, & wildlife together for a Wilder Carlisle.
At Gosling Sike you can visit a wildlife garden; walk though pasture, wetland, and woodlands to see farming and nature working in harmony; bring the family to explore nature, and enjoy an exciting and varied events programme.
The main building at Gosling Sike is our northern office for our Cumberland based staff. Our staff on site are happy to help visitors with enquiries and information.
Two meetings rooms for hire
With two different sized modern meeting rooms, with kitchen, projector, WiFi, toilets, disabled access and free parking, Gosling Sike has the facilities and setting to make your meeting or event a perfect venue.
To book a meeting room please email us or call 01228 829570.
Gosling Sike's garden is designed to showcase how our gardens at home can make perfect mini-nature reserves.
Aerial view of Gosling Sike nature hub & wildlife garden
A garden for wildlife & people
Our garden at Gosling Sike has been developed over the last five years to be a haven for wildlife and provide learning opportunities for individuals and communities.
With different habitats such as wildflower meadow, a pond, bog garden, bird area and orchard, Gosling Sike's garden attracts an increasing variety of wildlife from bees to butterflies to woodpeckers.
Please come and have a look around. There’s inspiration for all sizes and styles of gardens, and ideas and tips for all types of gardener, whether you’re a green-fingered expert or make houseplants quiver in fear!
The garden is managed by Adam and Maddy with a dedicated team of volunteers who continue to develop the garden with wildlife in mind. This includes creating different and interesting habitats for pollinators, incorporating a varied mix of native and ornamental plants, trees and shrubs and supporting community and wellbeing events.
The garden also hosts Garden Organic’s first compost demonstration site in Cumbria. Garden Organic deliver regular Master Composting workshops on site and provide information and knowledge to encourage everyone to get involved. In connection with this, we're developing a community vegetable garden in 2023.
We encourage visitors to explore and spend time in the garden and record species, they see, onto our wildlife sightings board by the pond or on the iNaturalist app. What can you find?
Get involved with the garden
We welcome all who'd like to help out and be involved with Gosling Sike's garden. If you'd like to be involved or are part of a community group that would like to be, we'd love to hear from you!
The Lost Words garden
The Lost Words garden at Gosling Sike is a place for creativity, inspiration, and reflection.
Take the time to read Robert Macfarlane’s spell-songs, bringing nature words that were fading from common usage back to life, and follow The Lost Words family trail to discover which words can be found living at Gosling Sike.
The creation of The Lost Words garden was possible thanks to our wonderful members and supporters, a team of dedicated volunteers, gardener Kate Jackson, and support from Cumbria Waste Management Environment Trust and Biffa Award.
Special thanks to Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris for giving us permission to bring The Lost Words to Gosling Sike.
Gosling Sike Wildflower Nursery & Seed Bank
Cumbria Wildlife Trust's wildflower nursery and seed bank are situated at Gosling Sike.
Gosling Sike's nursery grows a diverse range of wildflower species, all from locally sourced seed, providing them to our wildlife conservation projects such as Planting for Pollinators.
Visitors are welcome to look round the nursery and seed bank when staff are on hand. The nursery is peat free, pesticide free and run on sustainable principals.
Our seedbank is a facility to store and preserve rare and declining Cumbrian plant species.
We’ve been working in partnership with Royal Botanical Gardens Kew Millennium seed bank to provide seed collections and undertake plant reintroductions in the future.
Warden Day; Young volunteers clearing scrub at the RSPB Vange Marsh near Basildon, Essex © Paul Harris/2020VISION
Volunteering Opportunities
We've an amazing group of dedicated volunteers who help us in the garden and wildflower nursery.
Currently, we run regular weekly drop in sessions for both. We always welcome new volunteers to get involved.
If you'd like to give some of your time to be involved with our wildlife conservation work, we'd love to hear from you!
Gosling Sike Nature Reserve & farm
Gosling Sike is not only a garden, it's an organic farm with English longhorn cattle, sheep, geese and other livestock.
Gifted to Cumbria Wildlife Trust in 2012 by Susan Aglionby, all aspects of this wildlife haven provide learning opportunities.
The creation of a wetland ten years ago is especially significant as it allows us to demonstrate, on a small scale, how natural flood management works in practice.
The remeandering of the sike and creation of pools ensures water is stored on site and the flow downstream is significantly reduced.
There's also a small woodland where you can enjoy the changing seasons.
Long horn cattle graze at Gosling Sike
Wetlands at Gosling Sike © Andrew Heptinstall
Tarraby Woods at Gosling Sike © Andrew Heptinstall
Toddler looking at wildflowers
Wild families
There’s lots for families to do at Gosling Sike, and with free entry and car parking it makes getting closer to nature easy and accessible for all ages.
Go on a quest to seek, find and speak The Lost Words from Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris’s book and bring the lost nature words back to life. Collect seasonal spotter sheets and enjoy nature walks throughout the year to discover something new on every visit.
During office hours you’re welcome to call in at the centre and make use of the facilities, pick up activity sheets, and discover more about what else Cumbria Wildlife Trust is doing to help nature near you.
Upcoming events at Gosling Sike
If there are any upcoming events at Gosling Sike we'll show them to you below.
A growing future
Gosling Sike is a changing, growing place and we're always looking for new ways to bring people and nature together.
Our work on the community wildlife garden is ongoing, with volunteering opportunities for groups and individuals who’d like to do their bit for Cumbria's wildlife.
There's opportunities to get involved with our wildflower nursery too. Originally created by the Get Cumbria Buzzing! project, the nursery grows tens of thousands of native wildflowers for habitat restoration projects across Cumbria.
This helps to create a Nature Recovery Network where pollinating insects and native wildflowers can thrive. We've exciting plans for a special Cumbrian seed bank too, so watch this space!
The grounds at Gosling Sike are open year round, and we offer a changing programme of events and activities, so there will always be lots for you to see and do.
To find out more about Gosling Sike, or to discuss ways you, your community group or organisation could get involved, please email us or call 01228 829570.
Meet the team at Gosling Sike
Adam – Gosling Sike Manager and Horticulture Manager
Gemma - Gosling Sike Support Officer
Lizzy – Cumberland Community Officer
Ruth – Education & Learning Officer
Jack – Assistant Reserves Officer
Maddy – Horticulture Apprentice
Want to pop in for a chat? Or have a question about Gosling Sike, need some wildlife advice, or want to share your ideas? The team is usually here on weekdays, so stop by and see us!
Make that difference for the wildlife you love
- Free entry to our nature reserves.
- Free nature reserve guide.
- Cumbrian Wildlife magazine three times a year with accompanying 'What's On' guide.
- Plus more! From just £3.50 a month/£42 a year (based on Individual membership)