Open Air Business November/December 2016

INDUSTRY TALK
Herefordshire brings in around
£2,000 annually supplying the
seasonal decorative market and
foliage from yew trees is harvested
for use in a cancer drug.
EXPERIENCING NATURE
That’s fine for individual trees
but what about woods? Woods
are described as having a high
‘carrying capacity’; that is, they
have an ability to absorb lots of
people and activities that in a
more open setting would have a
detrimental impact on each other.
Woods are great places for formal
and informal recreation such as
mountain biking and survival and
foraging skills, and I have even
been told of drone racing in forests
in France!
Woodland is one of our richest
habitats, especially old and long
established woods. Think about
wild flower tours in spring to view
carpets of wood anemone and
bluebells, fungal forays in the
autumn or even night time tours
using infra-red equipment to
“WOODS ARE
DESCRIBED AS
HAVING A HIGH
‘CARRYING
CAPACITY’;
THAT IS, THEY
HAVE AN
ABILITY TO
ABSORB
LOTS OF
PEOPLE AND
ACTIVITIES”
view deer and wild boar. Woods
can be great places for people to
experience nature and solitude
and can be good for activities
such as glamping, provided
that all the necessary planning
regulations are followed and
that any development does not
destroy the wildlife value of the
site that makes it so special in the
first place. Temporary, moveable
structures should respect the
richness of our woodlands, but
even these should be avoided in
our oldest ancient woodlands,
which are best left undisturbed.
CREATING WOODLAND
You can of course create your own
woodland. Trees actually grow
much more quickly than people
think and it is easier to integrate
business activities into your initial
woodland design rather than
trying to impose them on existing
woodland.
Widely scattered trees rather
than dense woodland might be
a better option. I have seen a
lovely Oxfordshire camping site
where the pitch markers were
cricket bat willow trees. These
trees appreciated the riverside
setting (they like a slightly damp
site to grow) and can be felled
(and replaced) in about 18 years.
Each felled tree is currently worth
around £250-300 and they are then
converted into cricket bats for
which the UK is rightly famed.
A recent revival in timber
markets has been a timely
reminder of the value of trees
and woods, and many types of
woodland have been worked in
the past five years for the first
time in a generation. Some of
this increase in activity has been
dictated by an increased demand
for wood fuel driven by the
government’s Renewable Heat
Incentive scheme; the number
of biomass boilers in Britain rose
from just 127 in July 2012 to
4,579 in July 2014. More effective
and efficient ways of converting
smaller quantities of less uniform
material has also helped. A contact
in Wiltshire is even using their own
wood to build shepherd’s huts for
their summer visitor business.
People love trees and you need
to think about how you can turn
this to your advantage when
planning a business. Think about
the hordes of people that turn
up at Westonbirt Arboretum or
Sheffield Park to view the autumn
colours, or to climb the tree top
trail at Kew. Trees and woods can
provide an appropriate backdrop
to a whole range of activities from
weddings to funerals. Demand for
WWW.OPENAIRBUSINESS.COM 9