A charming account of a forgotten wood, loved, restored (through trial and error), and now fondly remembered.
Reviewer Alys Fowler is a garden writer and horticulturist.
As someone who has a permanent search on Rightmove for that little piece of land where I might plant some trees, this book resonated from the very first page, with its charmingly drawn map of Pavey’s wood. There is a spot for the best snowdrops and a clearing for the author’s Rollalong metal cabin among the various plantings.
The premise is simple: Pavey longs to own a bit of land to plant trees. Somerset has familial ties, and she sets off to try to buy an orchard at an auction. Failing to do this, she buys on impulse four acres of scrubby amenity woodland that no one wants for the princely sum of just under £3,000 (don’t get too excited – it was the late 1990s).
The book succeeds brilliantly because the author makes no bones about the fact that she doesn’t know what’s she’s doing. Trees get stripped, brambles grow back, a dream for a swathe of gentle woodland grass is thwarted by creeping thistles, and unsuitable species give up the ghost as they struggle in the damp soils of the wrong spot. But none of this fazes Pavey, who affably goes about each dilemma with such good heart that you are willing her along on her journey. She purchases a mower she doesn’t like, considers a chainsaw, masters a strimmer, sleeps alone in the woods with an axe for protection, goes on midnight wanderings, startles llamas and makes many good friends along the way.
She makes many a rookie error on woodland management and you learn an awful lot from her mistakes. This book may infuriate conservationists and professionals, but I loved it because the author makes so doable the desire to own a wood and care for it. A mustread for anyone who dreams of owning a little wild patch in the countryside and leaving a legacy of trees to future generations.