In tribute to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, a freshly planted hectare in Chester has been dubbed “Memorial Wood”.
On February 25 and 26, members of the Tattenhall Wildlife Group (TWiG) worked on Bolesworth Estate farmland in Chester to plant 700 trees. Equipped with mallets and spades and dressed in warm clothes, the TWiG team worked with able assistance from students earning their Duke of Edinburgh Gold Awards. They planted hawthorn, wild cherry, oak, dogwood, silver birch, guelder rose, hornbeam, holly and wych elm. The Woodland Trust provided all these species without charge.
Robin Langford, one of the Bolesworth’s most prominent dairy farming tenants, returned the site to the Estate for the express purpose of tree planting. As well honouring the late monarch, the new woodland area will bolster the estate’s current flood defences, supporting climate change and increasing local biodiversity.
Memorial Wood features a footpath, making it accessible to Tattenhall residents and visitors from surrounding communities, as well as those from further afield. Dogs are welcome, provided they are on leads.
Managing Director of Bolesworth, Nina Barbour, commented on the community project:
“We welcome this opportunity to give back to the community and help to strengthen environmental measures. The woodland will look magnificent when the trees reach maturity, and forms part of a much wider sustainability strategy that we are currently putting in place.”
She also thanked Langford for returning the site to Bolesworth, the Woodland Trust for providing the trees and the TWiG team for its valuable community care.
