by
Rachel Limb
29th November 2023
At Chase & Chalke’s Hands on Heritage event at the Ancient Technology Centre in April 2022, we invited people to foster a native tree sapling with a view to creating a small woodland somewhere in the project area. The foster carers were asked to take care of their saplings at home through the winter of 2022 and through most of 2023.
This gave the small trees time to develop in a safe area away from deer and other wildlife in an attempt to keep them safe until they were ready to plant out.
We are delighted that this plan has now been realised with thanks to Alice Favre who kindly gave permission for the Chase & Chalke saplings to be planted on a strip of land alongside the Jubilee Trail in Chettle.
Our tree foster carers were invited to bring their saplings to Chettle on 25th November, the start of National Tree Week, where Chase & Chalke staff and volunteers helped them plant the trees and protect them from deer.
Whist limited tree planting had already taken place on the land, the newly planted trees will provide greater species diversity and provide a woodland corridor for wildlife. This particular belt of woodland forms part of a wider Landscape Plan for Chettle.
We hope our tree fosterers will walk the Jubilee Trail again over the coming months and years and take a peek to see how the trees are doing.
We would like to say a big thank you to all the foster carers who looked after their saplings and brought them out to be planted, as well as the Chase & Chalke volunteers who came and supported this activity.
The saplings were adopted and planted out as part of the Chase & Chalke Wonderful Woodlands project, which has been kindly made possible with support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. You can find out more about the project and it’s aims here.