A site of special scientific interest
This name 'Special Scientific Interest' (SSSi) is a statutory designation that affects what you are allowed to do in the woodland. It protects particular areas or features that are unusual and/or home to living organisms that are a threatened species.
Our Mission
We want Wolford Wood to continue thriving in biodiversity and nature for all to enjoy.
From specialist species recorders monitoring wildlife, campers and glampers taking a break immersed in the natural countryside, classroom spaces thriving with children learning new skills and practitioners utilising the peaceful environment to run workshops and client appointments.
There are so many opportunities that we are investing in to allow more people to experience the magical atmosphere of Wolford Wood.
Volunteer
We welcome volunteers to Wolford Wood. For an hour or two, half or whole days. Whether it's helping marshal the Park Run on a Saturday Morning, pathfinder work, help with school visits or activities like a woodland Easter egg hunt. There are plenty of opportunities to volunteer.
There are so many fascinating projects we want to undertake where you can learn or apply manual skills and ancient methods, perform amazing tasks, team build or just have fun in nature and of course there is lots of exercise. We work with individuals and groups. Sometimes we all get very hot and sweaty under the baking sun and other times we get wet and hot and sweaty in the pouring rain. This Autumn we need volunteers to help cut and form 4m long Birch brash bundles and install them with us into our muddy tracks.
This is the old fashioned way of making good ground using twigs and mud. The technique is ancient, lasts for years, can endure heavy use, always staying firm and dry. It doesn't carve up the ground, import stone from quarries or call for much in the way of fossil fuels and vehicles. It will come as no surprise that the activity enhances bio-diversity, is sustainable and is carbon negative.
The Birch stems that have been coppiced will grow new stems and double or even triple the amount of leaf cover over the course of 5-7 years.
Then there is the old pill box, WWII bunker. But we need tracks to get there first :).
A Working Wood
English deciduous woods and man have become symbiotic in coppiced woods. By coppicing trees the canopy is increased and the life of these trees is extended. We have an 800+ year old coppiced Oak in the wood. By using the coppiced material for products the carbon cycle becomes whole and neutral.
We produce and sell carbon neutral logs for heat and cooking, carbon neutral hedgelaying and garden design materials, carbon neutral tree house and playground building materials, carbon neutral tracks and walkways, carbon neutral river and canal bank restoration, carbon neutral fencing, shed and house building materials. And all this work increases the amount of species within the woodland, extends the life cycle of individual trees, whilst attracting and protecting some rare surviving indigenous species. To ensure that biodiversity of the woodland thrives, expert woodland management must take place.