Into the woods

EVER WONDERED WHAT IT WOULD BE LIKE TO HAVE YOUR OWN WOODLAND? JESSICA CRESSWELL TELLS US ABOUT THE JOYS, AND THE HARD WORK, OF LIFE BENEATH THE BOUGHS

The story so far

Our home is in Kent, set within mixed woodland, including chestnut coppice and a pine plantation, which was planted in the 80s for the then-booming paper industry. When the timber company who owned and managed all 700 acres sold it, the acreage was split into multiple plots. My husband bought a 25-acre plot with a framing yard, workshops and offices and set up Sackville Oak Frames, which handcrafts oak-framed houses and extensions.

We rented locally for years – up to and after we married in 2012 – and it wasn’t until late 2013 that we looked into living on the property we owned. We were fortunate enough to get planning approved on the old office building just after the birth of our daughter, and turned what was a timberclad commercial office into our home.

Simple pleasures

I love the feeling of being connected to the environment and seasons. It often feels as if we don’t just watch the seasons, we are a part of them, and that is one of the biggest pleasures. We also get so much joy seeing our daughter grow up in such a magical setting and watching her understanding of the natural world develop.

When it works

Our greatest success was when we got planning approval to live here. Despite the occasional pitfalls of living where the business is, there are advantages: being able to pop into my husband’s workshop and see what he’s working on, to take tea breaks together. It also means he’s very

accessible for our daughter, which is something that we never take for granted.

I also find the work we do here incredibly rewarding: one of the main reasons I set up my blog ‘The Woodland Wife’ was to raise awareness and start a conversation about traditional crafts such as oak framing, woodland life and what it takes to maintain a healthy woodland. People calling our work and life in the wood ‘aspirational’ continues to drive and inspire what we do here.

When it goes wrong

Often, people see our way of life and think that we have come by this by luck, but it’s taken years of hard work, determination and sacrifice to get here. The work involved in maintaining the woodland, as well as the property itself, has a huge impact, not only on finances, but also on our time – we are often completely immersed in working here.

While we live in an idyllic spot, the building we call ‘home’ isn’t entirely fit for purpose and, due to our limited resources, a full conversion simply hasn’t been possible. The result is that we live in a building that isn’t entirely our ‘dream home’. It is sadly ironic that while my husband spends weeks at a time handcrafting beautiful oak frames for his clients, we live in a rather shabby house!

What I’ve learnt

I have always felt such an affinity with the natural world, but I understand so much more from living in it. I used to be someone who was very happy to stay indoors and complete tasks at a million miles an hour, but now, rain or shine, I am outdoors.

Changing the scenery around me has allowed me to switch my focus and be truly present.

“I have always felt such an affinity with the natural world but I understand so much more from living in it”

To do it well…

Woodland must be worked to be healthy; there are parcels of woodland around the UK that are in a shocking state, due to lack of management. Often, people see an area that we have flat-felled and accuse us of ‘deforestation’ but in months, it is thriving with wildlife, flora and new growth. Sites left unmanaged, on the other hand, are slowly dying off and have a huge detrimental impact on the environment and eco systems that surround them. We often see small plots of woodland for sale at inflated prices, marketed with the empty promise of planning permission. It is these plots that often price those who wish to manage woodland properly out of the market. It is important to do your research. And remember that owning woodland isn’t just a job or hobby; it’s a vocation and an all-encompassing lifestyle choice.

Jessica takes inspiration from small things that appear overnight, like the highly poisonous fly agaric mushroom (above). She has created magical areas of the wood with fairy houses (right) to spark her daughter’s imagination

Jessica Cresswell, above, and husband Paul, top, are bringing up their daughter, opposite, in the woods. “We get so much joy watching her grow up in a magical setting”

With four hens and two dogs, the family is often out with the animals in the wood. Taking a break in the framing yard (right)