We have purchased the land to create the Lower Chew Forest!

Last Friday, we officially purchased the land to create the Lower Chew Forest, the South West’s largest new woodland in a generation. After months of hard work behind the scenes and an incredible fundraising campaign earlier this year, we are overjoyed to have finally got this purchase over the line and start making this dream project a reality.

Over the next few years, the 422 acre site at Wick Farm, Compton Dando will be transformed into the Lower Chew Forest. It will be home to 100,000 trees and shrubs, new wetland habitats, miles of hedgerow, and species-rich grassland. When put together with adjoining woodland, it will be bigger than the Downs (Clifton and Durdham) and Leigh Woods in Bristol, and twelve times the size of Royal Victoria Park in Bath. The scale of this woodland project is quite frankly immense, and one of major significance for climate action and nature recovery in our region.

However, none of this would be possible without you. We want to give a huge, heartfelt thank you to the 1000+ generous individuals, organisations, and businesses who supported our fundraising campaign and helped us raise a phenomenal £171,955 towards the purchase of Wick Farm. This groundbreaking project has also been made possible thanks to grant funding from the Forest of Avon Trust via the Trees for Climate land acquisition fund backed by Defra’s Nature for Climate Fund, and a loan provided by Triodos bank.

Finally, we want to thank everyone who has supported Avon Needs Trees over the years. Whether you have been involved since our humble beginnings at Hazeland, or one of our more recent projects, it is because of your continued belief in our mission that our charity has grown from strength to strength in less than five years since our inception.

Over the next few months, we will be sharing even more exciting updates about the Lower Chew Forest – be sure to keep an eye on our social media channels and newsletter! In the meantime, you can find out more about this incredible project and ways to support here.