Our ambition to establish 20 million trees to tackle climate change

2024

Project update 2024

Our tree planting project is gaining even more momentum with more than 500,000 trees planted across our places in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in the last two years. We’ve created new woodlands, hedgerows and orchards to increase habitats for wildlife, lock up carbon and improve air quality.

Just some of the projects include planting 7km of hedgerow at Wallington, Northumberland, planting more than 45,000 trees to create new woodland at Sherborne Park, Gloucestershire, and planting a further 50,000 trees at Arlington Court, Devon.

In Wales, we planted 64,500 trees across the country including at the Ysbyty Estate in Conwy to create new wood pasture and woodland. 14,500 of these trees were planted on the Southwood Estate in Pembrokeshire to transform species-poor farmland into a rich mosaic of woodland, scrub and grassland to support farmland birds.

In Northern Ireland, the team have planted 13,750 trees at Divis, Belfast, to create eight hectares of native woodland with a plan to plant a further 150,000 by 2027.

2022–2023

Project update 2023

Throughout the 2022 and 2023 planting season, we planted trees across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Planting projects included woodland, orchards and hedgerows at Nymans in West Sussex, three miles of hedgerows at Carding Mill Valley and the Long Mynd in Shropshire and 28,000 trees at the Colby Estate in Pembrokeshire. These have all been funded by donations to our Plant a Tree fund.

2021

Progressing at pace 

The ambition to plant and establish 20 million trees by 2030 is progressing at pace thanks to your support. The £500,000 you helped raise in 2021 through the plant a tree campaign made it possible to plant 76,000 young saplings across the UK. The sapling were a mix of 14 species including oak, beech and crab apple. We've also identified sites for a further 1.5 million trees to be planted during the next two years. 

2020

Working with farmers

We're working with one of our tenant farmers to plant 9,000 trees and shrubs across eight acres of land at Sherborne Park Estate in Gloucestershire. The work includes parkland restoration and the creation of woodland pasture. 

Working with partners 

Despite challenges presented by the coronavirus pandemic 76,000 trees have been planted in 2020. Many of these projects received financial support from our partners, including Cotswold Outdoor, Great Western Community Forest, Manchester City of Trees and the People’s Postcode Lottery. The Woodland Trust, Forestry England and the Community Forest Trust are also supporting the work.

2020

Planting the saplings

Planting on the North Devon coast 

The largest tree planting project to date is the creation of a coastal woodland and wood pasture in north Devon. Thanks to funding from Cotswold Outdoor and your donations we've been able to plant 16,000 trees so far. 

We plan to plant a total of 125,000 trees at the site during the next three to five years. These unique mosaics of woodland will create a peaceful wildlife-rich oasis, prevent flooding and lock up carbon.

Work at Hafod Garegog, North Wales

Tree planting on an area of reclaimed sea bed at Hafod Garegog will help to prevent floods. We've planted native tree species suited to wet conditions including aspen, black poplar, willow, birch and hornbeam. The project will also support wildlife and enhance a National Nature Reserve full of ancient trees.