A new initiative
In 2024, Woodland Heritage took the decision to stop the annual Field Day or Weekend event, and to create something that would appeal to a wide audience of people passionate about our nation’s wood culture, and for those interested to learn more and looking for a way into learning about woods and workshops.
The Field Weekend was a wonderful opportunity for behind-the-scenes access and insight at estates, locations and business not usually open to the public. A warm, welcoming atmosphere creates an entertaining, educational and enlightening day!
Our new initiative Open Woods & Workshops, brings all of the values of the Field Weekend into a new format, with events throughout the UK that are open to visitors from all areas of interest and levels of engagement.
The 2023 Field Day: Cowdray Park thanks to Head Forester Nina Williams
We were blessed with a wonderfully sunny day. Members and guests arrived at Cowdray Walled Garden in time for tea and coffee ahead of a busy day. Chief Executive John Orchard's welcome notes included the announcement of a new PhD funded by Woodland Heritage and the news of continued work at James Wood, the demonstration woodland in Somerset.
John, introduced our host for the day, Nina Williams, who gave an introduction to Cowdray Park and the varied nature of forestry on the estate. We then set forth for the arboretum, planted in 1999 as a memorial to Lord John Cowdray. The arboretum has a spoked wheel design and includes over 1,000 trees of 126 different species. Nina spoke about the opportunities of planting here as a way of finding out which species will thrive on the Cowdray soils.
The walk took us across the historic deer park to marvel at the 1,000-year-old Queen Elizabeth oak and to her near neighbour, the Lady in Waiting oak - another beautiful veteran tree. Through a heat haze, attendees then climbed to a wonderful viewpoint over the estate and across the downs, and found relief descending the hill to admire an avenue of limes planted in 2012.
We enjoyed a lunch break back at the Walled Garden where Simon Burvill, Chair of the Trustees, led the AGM – and tested us all on our wood knowledge with a pair of chair legs!
In the afternoon, Nina led us to Hoe Copse: 51 hectares of mixed conifer and broadleaf woodland on heavy clay soils. We had a closer look at oak plantation with a hazel understorey and many questions were answered on pruning, pests and the beloved dormouse.
Our last stop of the day was Ambersham Common where we were joined by a colleague of Nina's who told us more about this SSSI habitat and how they manage it along with the Estate. This is a vital habitat for the Dartford Warbler, Smooth snake and Sand lizard.
A fantastic day out, and we are enormously grateful to Nina and her co-host Graham Taylor for sharing their knowledge with us.