Robinswood Hill - Café & Visitor Centre

Open 9:30am and 4pm

Robinswood Hill is a green space managed by Gloucester City council and is home to a wealth of wildlife. Car parking is free here.

We've had our headquarters at Robinswood Hill since 1997, when the original building was opened by Sir David Attenborough.

The new headquarters building was finished in summer 2020 and is now in use. The building is clad in red cedar, which was harvested from Lower Woods nature reserve during routine felling works, and has since been repurposed.

The building is designed to be as sustainable as possible and is surrounded by rain gardens. This is a great example of a sustainable urban drainage system or SUDS scheme: a way of managing water so that it doesn’t go through the drainage system as waste. The rain gardens catch water from the guttering and allow this to naturally drain through a series of soils and gravels to naturally filter before returning to the water course. The building also features a ‘windcatcher’ system that allows for natural ventilation and air cooling by using the prevailing wind to power a fan.

Both of our cafes (the other is Crickley Hill cafe) are dog friendly and we love seeing well behaved dogs come to visit. We've dog treats and dog ice cream that you can buy for them.

If your four legged friend can get a bit rambunctious or loud, then we'd still love to see them but we'd ask they sit outside.

We understand that even the best behaved of dogs can have an off day so please don't take offense if we suggest moving outside, should your dog get boisterous. We want to ensure the cafes stay a calm and comfortable place for all our visitors, human or canine.