Cheshire’s ancient woodlands are a cherished part of the county’s natural heritage, offering not just a haven for wildlife but also a repository of memories for generations of local people.

These woodlands, some of which have existed since medieval times, provide an enchanting escape into nature and a living connection to the past.

As we look to the future, there is enormous potential to increase our native tree cover, benefiting wildlife, farming and the wider environment.

For many of us who grew up in Cheshire, woodlands hold a special place in our hearts. As children, we often wandered through these magical forests, our imaginations set free by the towering trees and the dappled sunlight that filtered through the canopy. In woodlands and forests such as Delamere Forest and Marbury Country Park, the massive oaks and beeches provided perfect hiding spots, their gnarled trunks offering refuge from friends during games of hide and seek. The thrill of being discovered or finding a new hiding place is a memory many of us cherish deeply.

The woods were alive with our stories and laughter, a testament to the boundless creativity of childhood and they taught us lessons that no classroom could. We learned to identify different trees by their leaves and bark, to recognise birdsong and to appreciate the intricate web of life that thrived in these ecosystems. Every visit was an educational adventure, grounding us in the natural world.

There's a profound joy in wanting to introduce our children and grandchildren to the same woodlands where we once played. Watching them run through the same paths, discovering the same wonders, and creating their own memories connects generations through a shared appreciation for nature's beauty and magic. Unfortunately, many of the woodlands we once played in are no longer there, have been built over or become isolated and fragmented.

But there is an enormous opportunity to bring those childhood memories back for generations to come, to increase our native tree cover, to support nature and add value to farming systems and the wider environment: to take us back to a landscape connected with a mosaic of woodland habitats that can support a huge range of native wildlife and provide corridors for species to spread not just throughout Cheshire, but beyond.

For the past three years, I have worked to create new woodlands and wildlife corridors and collaborated with more than 40 landowners across Cheshire.

Our planting schemes are diverse and impactful and include:

Designing new woodland blocks with open glades to attract butterflies and pollinators

Enhancing existing scrub areas to diversify species composition and structure

Planting individual specimen trees in pastures and meadows

Combining woodland, pond, and meadow creation into integrated habitat schemes

Implementing riverside planting to establish watercourse buffers

Delivering large-scale agroforestry projects across working farms, incorporating trees into the farmed environment

We’re always eager to partner with more landowners interested in tree planting. We can help design schemes that align with your land management goals while benefiting local wildlife. By working together, we can transform Cheshire's landscape into a thriving, sustainable haven for both wildlife and people, protecting our ancient woodlands and creating new ones for future generations to cherish.

Be part of bringing woodlands back to Cheshire

Thanks to the Department for the Environment Food and Rural Affair’s (DEFRA) Trees for Climate woodland creation programme (part of the Nature for Climate fund), funding is available to support Cheshire landowners in planting new woodlands.

Partnering with the Mersey Forest and City of Trees Community Forests, Cheshire Wildlife Trust manages all the paperwork and conducts thorough checks to ensure new planting does not harm other priority habitats, species, or archaeological sites. The trust also carries out the tree planting and offers up to 15 years of maintenance payments to help landowners maintain and look after their woodlands.

If planting is of sufficient scale, there is also potential to tap into new carbon markets, providing landowners with potential income through the sale of carbon credits.

To learn more, contact woodland@cheshirewt.org.uk or call 07968 494319.

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