Charity offers free trees to good homes

Free trees are part of the offer to visitors at a series of special tree events taking place across Devon.

The Saving Devon’s Treescapes project is marking the beginning of National Tree Week on Saturday 26 November with no less than four simultaneous tree give-aways, known as ‘tree hubs’. Each begins at 10am and continues until all trees are given away!

The venues for each event are:

• Devon Wildlife Trust’s Meeth Quarry nature reserve (main car park), near Hatherleigh, EX20 3ER
• Village hall, Buckland-in-the-Moor, Dartmoor, TQ13 7HN
• Orchard House, Pyworthy, Holsworthy, Devon, EX22 6SW
• South Brent Old School Community Centre, Totnes Road, South Brent, Devon, TQ10 9BP

The biggest of the events is taking place at Devon Wildlife Trust’s Meeth Quarry nature reserve. Entry is free and open to all. As well as being able to pick up a sapling to plant at home, visitors will also be able to join a guided walk where they’ll learn how to identify common trees and talk to a woodland creation adviser from the Woodland Trust about what support is available if they want to plant more trees.

Staff and volunteers will also lead tours of the Meeth Quarry tree nursery which is helping Saving Devon’s Treescapes achieve its mission of planting half a million trees in Devon by 2025. The stunning work of local landscape photographer, Robert Darch will also be on display.

The events at Buckland-in-the-Moor, Pyworthy and South Brent will distribute trees only.

Devon Wildlife Trust’s Rosie Cotgreave is the project lead for Saving Devon’s Treescapes. Rosie said: "These are our first tree hub events of what will be a busy winter. Our mission is to replace trees lost across Devon to the terrible scourge of ash dieback disease.

"Ash dieback is having a devastating impact on our landscape which is why it’s vital that people are able to plant the right trees in the right place to ensure we have healthy and resilient treescapes in future years.

"At each event our staff and volunteers will be giving away sapling trees of Devon species such as oak, hazel, rowan and crab apple, with a maximum of five trees per family group or individual. Every tree will come with an easy to follow guide to its planting, protection and aftercare. Our stock of trees will be limited to 350 trees at each event, so I’d urge people to get to the venues early."

The Woodland Trust has generously donated trees for the tree hub events. The charity’s partnership manager, Eleanor Lewis said: "The Woodland Trust is really pleased to be working in partnership with Devon Wildlife Trust, together we can have a bigger impact. We need more trees across our landscape. This means replacing not only the trees lost to ash dieback but also the woods and trees lost over the past centuries. These new trees will start to reconnect the county’s fragmented woodland and provide important habitats for our wildlife, as well as acting to combat climate change. If you have space for a tree, please come along and get involved."

Saving Devon Treescapes is planning a series of free tree hub events around Devon throughout the winter. Other dates and venues include Brixham (Tuesday 29 November), Starcross (Sunday 11 December), Slapton (Saturday 7 January), Kingsbridge (Saturday 14 January). People are urged to check the Devon Wildlife Trust website for a full list and for more details www.devonwildlifetrust.org/events

Saving Devon's Treescapes is led by Devon Wildlife Trust on behalf of the Devon Ash Dieback Resilience Forum. It's a partnership project supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, One Tree Planted as well as other funders.