Land

In January 2022 I bought the 17 acres of land adjacent to Kaliwoods from Alan Bareham. It was a missing jigsaw piece in a land corridor: to the north lies Holton Hall Park, 70 acres of mixed wood pasture and a County Wildlife Site; to the south lies Holton Pits, now in community ownership and beyond the Blyth valley. Now aged 67 this would be my last project. It would be a legacy. I would never see the trees fully grown, but hopefully for another 20 years.

The importance of trees in mitigating climate change is enormous. Like great carbon sinks, woods and forests absorb atmospheric carbon and lock it up for centuries.

Trees filter the air we breath, through photosynthesis respiring oxygen essential for us to live.
Trees are an effective air cooler. With temperatures set to raise to an average of 40 degrees in 2050, trees are an essential micro-climate.
This relatively small parcel of land, becomes a linking wildlife corridor, joining in the north Holton Hall Park (70 acres, and a ‘County Wildlife Site’), and to the south, Holton Pits and the Blyth Valley (see map).
Trees, particularly deciduous trees, create alkaline humus that can effectively store water.
Trees shade the soil.
Trees have an essential relationship with people and animals.
Trees are but the fruiting body – the communication, energy, correspondence goes on underground.

Photo below taken by David Plater, August 2022, during the great drought and shows the linking of the existing woodland areas.