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Planting trees for a sustainable future

The Country Smallholder

May 2025

Landowners Phil and Chelsea had been looking for the perfect woodland to buy – but the MOREwoods scheme by the Woodland Trust enabled them to plant their own instead.

Set in a stunning coastal area just back from the cove at Lee Bay, North Devon, Phil Johncock and Chelsea Wills purchased the 4.3-acre area of predominantly permanent pasture in early 2021. With a medium slope down towards the north and north-west boundaries, the plot also includes a strip of mature, semi-natural woodland on steep ground to the north.

“We had been looking originally for mature woodland, which has long been a dream of mine,” explains Phil. “I'm a woodworker and have managed woodland in Kent, and my goal has always been to move into natural building work.”

With Chelsea intending to set up a ‘yoga in the woods’ venture, the couple's love of trees is clear. Wanting to do their bit for conservation and biodiversity, they had been looking for established woodland to purchase for quite a while but had been unsuccessful in finding anything locally that they could afford.

“Then, when we'd all but given up, a couple of people came up to us in the village, and asked if we'd purchased any of the local woodland that was up for sale,” Phil says. “We were completely unaware that there was any, so looked up the details that evening, and put in an offer straightway, without having even set foot on the plot!”

While there was some existing woodland, there was also plenty of space to plant more trees - which, in hindsight, has provided the couple with a higher level of satisfaction than they could have hoped for.

“This way, we could create our own space, have some say in what trees would go into the land, as Phil in particular is very passionate about native species, and make our own long-term impact on the local environment,” shares Chelsea.

GETTING STARTED

Keen to get started on their planting vision as soon as possible, but with a limited budget to work with, Phil and Chelsea began eagerly researching subsidy options.