Children’s author, Sarah Hayes, has done her bit for the environment in Wales by planting 2,400 trees at her home near Cefn Coch, Llanfair Caereinion, Powys.
Together with her husband, Richard, Sarah has planted 1.87 hectares of native broadleaved trees, mainly oak and ash, at their ten acre smallholding.
Richard and Sarah were first bitten by the tree-planting bug in 1985 when they planted half an acre of mixed native trees at their home in Oxfordshire.
When they moved to Wales 25 years later, they left behind a small wood and brought with them the determination to plant more trees at their new home.
Sarah said, “I believe that the act of planting any tree is a vote for the future and what first appears as a field of sticks will have been transformed in a surprisingly short time.
“Woods add beauty and variety to the landscape as well as creating new wildlife habitats and helping offset the critical effects of man-made carbon emissions.”
The new planting scheme at the Hayes’s home was funded by a grant from Forestry Commission Wales’s Better Woodlands for Wales (BWW) grant scheme.
Richard said, “We were really excited to hear about Better Woodlands for Wales and we found the process of applying for funding very simple.
“We were allocated a management planner who put in our application. She also recommended a contractor who did a great job of planting the new trees.”
Better Woodlands for Wales provides funding and specialist advice to landowners to plant a minimum of 0.25 hectares of land or to manage existing woodlands.
Patrick Green, Operations Manager at Forestry Commission Wales, said, “Woodlands can provide many benefits to landowners – shelter, water management, an increase in biodiversity, landscape improvements and timber.
“We are keen to increase the number of trees in Wales via our Better Woodlands for Wales grant scheme and I encourage landowners to look into the grants and free advice on offer to create their own woodland.”
For information on the Better Woodlands for Wales grant scheme, contact Forestry Commission Wales on 0300 068 0300, email [email protected] or see www.forestry.gov.uk/wales
