For twenty years we have lived opposite a wood. I have watched the seasons come and go. Many wonderful varieties of birds have visited our garden, lured by my bird feeder. The dawn chorus has calmed me when I have been troubled and had wakeful nights. Despite these last awful couple of years, the wood has been my stabilising influence. Nature, in all its glory, continues unabated, never deterred by life’s many challenges, disappointments and often desperate unhappiness.
That was until the owner divided the wood into smaller plots and sold them off separately! He also took out a five year felling licence which was passed on to the individual plot holders. We have been out in the garden, in our conservatory or even in the kitchen and heard chain saws, quad bikes, small tractors and wood shredders. This has caused huge upset and disquiet in our once tranquil neighbourhood. We have watched majestic trees come crashing down, leaving gaping holes in the green and bountiful woodland!
The noise has often been almost unbearable. There are a large number of rhododendron shrubs covering the forest floor, apparently planted by a previous owner many years ago to assist with hunting. I’m not sure that I follow this logic but that is the story so far be it for me to question! Over the years we have watched hunts and heard the hounds surging through the undergrowth. Horses have galloped along the lane at the bottom of our garden, riders resplendent in their hunting jackets.
My overriding concern is the removal of trees when we have all been asked to think green and to plant more! Not cut them down! I am also worried that ‘forestry building’s are popping up under the auspices of ‘restoration and improvements to woodland’! One of these buildings is for the purpose of drying and selling logs! A forestry business is being set up in the wood that was once a sanctuary for birds, majestic oak, ash, beech, birch and many other native specimens of trees. We have seen badgers, foxes, weasels, squirrels and other small species of animals native to Cheshire.
And then there is the noise! From the middle of summer we have heard the racket! It has prevented us from enjoying our own gardens. We have double glazed windows but that is not enough to keep out the commotion! Not to be churlish but will mention this anyway! One of the plot owners is a scout master. There have been whole weekends of screaming children, all day and well into the night. Sound carries and we can hear whole conversations! I know that the wood could be a magical place for a child and would hate to prevent anyone from enjoying its splendour. But maybe some restraint and thought of others wouldn’t go amiss?
My husband and I used to look across at the wood and pretend it was ours! We always said that we’d buy it one day if we could afford it! Unfortunately we could have only afforded a plot and that defeated the object of owning a wood! Our hearts are heavy as we face the next few years trying to come to terms with the pain of losing our peaceful, beautiful view. We will just have to try and cope, as best we can, with the cacophony that will continue for years to come!
Our saving grace is that they are restricted by how many trees each plot owner can remove! But it does seems a lot! They can cut down all trees within five square metres, four times a year. There are ten plots! Even if they plant more trees to replace those desiccated, they’ll take many years to grow!
I am trying very hard to remain positive. My family are well. I’m looking forward to seeing them all at Christmas. Hopefully the ‘foresters’ will take a few days off and have families to visit! We are, together with a few neighbours, bringing this to the attention of our council and member of parliament. None of us are too hopeful for a positive result. But we’ll go down fighting……….! 👠
Jenny Burrell 