National Trust site to welcome 15,000 trees

An area the size of 16 football pitches will be planted with 15,000 trees.

The National Trust's Dunstable Downs, in Bedfordshire, is set to welcome the trees over the next two years.

A spokesperson for the trust said a variety of native species, including oak, hornbeam, wild cherry, silver birch, small-leaved lime, hawthorn, hazel, willow, and crab apple, would be planted.

The project has been supported by the Forestry Commission through an England Woodland Creation grant.

As part of the project, 11.5 hectares (27 acres) of wood pasture and woodland would be created at Dunstable Downs - which is the highest point in the East of England.

The National Trust said the trees would be accompanied by cattle.

In the first phase of the project, 500 trees would be planted at Dell Farm and Cathedral Field, close to Whipsnade Tree Cathedral.

Lead ranger Paul Druce-Collins said: "Diversity is incredibly important within a woodland.

"Different species of trees grow at different rates and to different shapes and sizes.

"A diverse, healthy woodland is also more resilient to disease and the impacts of climate change."

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