Open Woods & Workshops - launch!

On Thursday, 2nd April 2026, the charity Woodland Heritage launched Open Woods & Workshops, a network of woodlands and workshops hosting open days across the UK throughout June 2026. The initiative enables over 1,000 attendees to see first-hand the role trees and timber can have in our future.

From Aberfeldy, Scotland, down to Dorset, England, there are forestry estates and woodlands, scientists and sawmills, artists and architects, furniture factories, makers and beyond. Some spaces are open to visitors all day. Other places will host small group tours.

Open Woods & Workshops visitors can see one of the world’s largest climate change experiments, go behind the scenes with world-famous furniture makers, walk with foresters through ancient and productive woodlands, learn about growing timber for cricket bats, and glimpse the future of trees and timber with design, making and forestry educators.

Hosts include: Duchy of Cornwall, John Makepeace Furniture, the Architectural Association at Hooke Park, Gaze Burvill, The King's Foundation - Snowdon School of Furniture, Hulls Mill Farm, Goldfinger, Another Country, Young & Norgate, OTZI, North Eggardon Farm, Broomhill Woods, Katie Walker Furniture, English Woodlands Timber, Matthew Cox, Birmingham Institute of Forest Research, Cothelstone Estate, National Trust Ashridge, Treske, Whitney Sawmills, Angus Ross, Glandy Cross Wood, Artichoke, Joss Stoddart, James Wood, Williams & Cleal furniture school, West's of East Dean, Hazel Woodland Products, Albion Timber, National Trust Wallington, King & Webbon, Crutchley Farms, Great Park, Alder and South Sowdens Woods and Trefusis Estate!

Thanks to

National Lottery players

Open Woods & Workshops is part of the Woodland Heritage Skills project and is made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players, we have been able to conserve and promote sustainable productive woodland management skills in the UK. The project strengthens the skills, networks, supply chains and processes required for a thriving UK wood culture, whilst raising awareness of the risks of losing these skills, and the benefits of upscaling them.

The charity’s Chief Executive, John Orchard said: “By showcasing sustainable productive woodland and workshops the initiative highlights the critical need for homegrown timber, more productive woodland and the preservation of vital skills, jobs and places.”

Although the importance of planting trees and protecting ancient woodlands has been accepted by many, the importance of growing trees and using our homegrown timber is less well understood. The fact that the UK is the second largest net importer of forest products in the world1 whilst huge areas of our woodlands lie unmanaged2, is a huge missed opportunity for our response to climate change.

John concluded: “The stakes for future generations are high and we must act now! So I am endlessly grateful to National Lottery players, The National Lottery Heritage Fund, the truly amazing hosts and to Gaze Burvill and the initiative’s other matched funders.”

Find an event near you in June 2026 by clicking below.

Protecting emerging oak saplings at James Wood

By Alex Mowat, Trustee.

James Wood, the charity’s demonstration woodland, is more than a plantation of trees to grow fine timber. It is a project that gives back in terms of information and education. Inspired by James Stratton it lives on the kindness of volunteers.

At the end of September 14 kind volunteers from TFT Consultants, came to the site and protected the emerging direct seeded oak saplings from rabbits in Tubex easy wraps.

It is intended that these easy wraps will also give an exact match in conditions to the adjacent nursery grown trees to see how the emerging tree growth compares. Emerging trees were still patchy in their success rates.  Some runs of planting had 100 % success and other runs had nothing for several meters at a time. As the acorns were mixed and the soil type is the same the depth of planting could affect the irregularity.

This wonderful group of building surveyors, project managers and property consultants we very chatty at first inspired by the blue sky and panoramic views of the Quantocks and a day away from keyboards. Very quickly a hush fell over the field as the teams got their eye in, finding seedlings in the grass, marking them. This was followed by a chorus of hammers tapping in stakes rhythmically and putting guards on.

A beautiful day in the rolling hills was concluded by a very satisfactory task for everyone. Each volunteer took a bag of acorns, selected from premium trees in Rycote Park in Oxfordshire. The TFT team got on their hands and knees straight away and infilled the blank areas with seed, one by one.

Each volunteer was surprised to find a chocolate biscuit at the top of each row as a well earned reward! We hope the volunteers will come back and see them germinate next year. Thank you to Simon, Caroline and Ellie for collecting the acorns and thank you team TFT for giving up your time and being superheroes for a day!