Suitable for: Improvers, professionals

Considerations: Classroom based, partially outdoors

Refreshments: Tea, coffee and biscuits will be available throughout the day. We also have a fantastic on-site cafe, Embers, run by local chef Shropshire Lad

What to wear: Sturdy shoes, clothes that you can get messy

What to bring: Paper and pen for taking notes

The course: 

Designed for new or aspiring owners and managers, who want to balance the environmental, economic and social benefits of their woodland.

Two days of classroom sessions are followed by a practical skills assessment and woodland products day.

You will learn:

- The principles of woodland sustainability and woodland resilience
- Different UK woodland types/categories
- The physical structure of woodlands
- The legal obligations of managing woodland (and some sources for grants)
- The impacts of UK woodland pests and diseases
- How to developing clear objectives for woodland management
- Methods of woodland management and the main silvicultural systems
- Methods for the selection, harvesting and extraction of timber
- Timber conversion and potential products  

You will also gain an accreditation at Level 3 with AIM*, subject to submission of a completed course workbook and field assessment.

Tutor: Chris Keeler

"I have a lifetime of experience working in the coppice woodlands of Sussex and Kent, and I love to show how these traditional activities support the health of woodlands and enhance biodiversity."

Chris is our training officer, who co-ordinates and teaches woodland management and heritage skills, as well as being the lead trainer for the Lost Woods project in Sussex and lead contact for SWA members in the area.

He was born into an estate forestry family, and has worked in the coppice, woodland, and arboriculture industry for over 20 years. He  learned his trade from some of the last ‘proper’ woodsmen who cut trees with axe, hook, and hand saw and still uses these tools to this day. Chris is passionate about passing on this knowledge to others, as well as communicating his love of all things nature.