Build a minibeast hotel
Create a home for minibeasts to provide hidey-holes for creatures galore. Building a minibeast hotel, wildlife motel or nature stack in your garden can provide a safe hideaway for wildlife and help make use of your garden waste.
A well-built hotel can shelter anything from Hedgehogs to toads, solitary bees to bumblebees, and ladybirds to woodlice. You can build your bug hotel at any time of year, but you might have the most natural materials such as straw, dry grass and hollow plant stems in autumn.
Short on time or DIY skills? Then why not buy a ready-made insect hotel from our shop?
Instructions
Choose a suitable site
It needs to be level and the ground firm. You’ll get different residents depending on where you place your hotel, as some (like woodlice) enjoy cool, damp conditions, while others (such as solitary bees) prefer the sun. If you have vegetable beds, keep it a good distance away from them just incase you attract slugs!
Build the basic structure
You will need a strong, stable framework that's no more than a metre high. Old wooden pallets are perfect for a large hotel as they’re sturdy and come with ready-made gaps.
Start by laying some bricks on the ground as sturdy corners. Leave some spaces in between the bricks for critters to move in. Add three or four layers of wooden pallets on top of your bricks. If you leave larger gaps, you’re more likely to attract Hedgehogs.
