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Hope Wood

It’s planted!  That’s over 25,000 trees in just two winters.

If you were one of those who picked up a spade – thank you!  You did a great job! So much so that the excellent quality of your planting was highly commended by the Woodland Trust and the Community Forest who provided and funded the trees. They will be a lasting legacy to the community of South Brent, helping to create a beautiful area for people to enjoy as well as boosting the abundance and diversity of plants and animals locally.

 

Now the work starts to give those trees the best start in life and, more widely, to help native plants to thrive on the wonderfully diverse site, which includes wood pasture, streams and a wildflower meadow as well as woodland.  If you visit the northern block you’ll see that recently-sown Yellow Rattle has germinated beautifully across the meadow, helping to weaken the arable rye grass and improve the conditions for wildflower colonisation.  And along the Horse Brook and its tributary stream there is abundant willow and alder and it’s a haven for butterflies, moths and dragonflies.

 

 

Occasional volunteer work will continue under the supervision of ParkLife South West.  Look out for announcements here, on social media and in Sustainable South Brent newsflashes.  The entrances to both the southern and northern blocks are in Portford Lane which you can reach from Exeter Road along Palstone Lane or from Kerries Road near the entrance to Crowder Park.  ParkLife usually put out directional signs starting from the Palstone Park Recreation Ground on volunteer days.

Work might include removing Himalayan Balsam from the banks of the streams, clearing long grass from the bases of small saplings or, eventually, removing tree guards and stakes.  Necessary tools are usually provided but you may want to bring your own gardening gloves and wellies are the recommended footwear during all but the driest part of the year.

 

 

We very much hope to see you soon.

 

Hope Wood is a 65-acre site straddling Portford Lane in South Brent.  It was acquired in 2024 by South Hams District Council supported by government funding from the Plymouth and South Devon Community Forest with trees generously donated by the Woodland Trust.  Primarily a community woodland of around 25,000 native trees, it also includes a wildflower meadow and an area of wood pasture (copses and individual trees in a field grazed seasonally by cattle).  A 10-acre field is managed by Sustainable South Brent as a community market garden and orchard.