Torry Hill’s enchanting woodland . . . protected and sustained by modern business

Each spring the Torry Hill woodlands explode with an amazing and captivating display of bluebells.  The bluebell is a species traditionally associated with managed ancient woodland, particularly those that have been regularly coppiced. Coppicing is the oldest form of woodland management and the regular cutting and re-growth creates a habitat where bluebells and other wildlife can thrive.

The Torry Hill estate consists of 1,000 acres of beautiful woodland near Doddington, Kent.  The coppiced timber is used to make the large range of chestnut fencing products that Torry Hill Chestnut Fencing produces and supplies to its large client base. This outlet for the timber ensures that the woodlands are managed and the bluebells flourish. Customers of Torry Hill Chestnut Fencing know that they are buying a well-made traditional product and at the same time are helping to preserve the bluebells.

“Bluebells are the most iconic plant in the Torry Hill chestnut woods,” said John Leigh-Pemberton, owner of Torry Hill Chestnut Fencing. “In April and May newly cut cants are a carpet of blue with hundreds of flowers per square metre.  The beautiful flowers and wildlife that, quite literally come to life after the coppicing process, are a sign that timber harvesting can truly benefit woodland.”

According to Canterbury Cathedral’s records, by the year 1200 there were already large areas of chestnut coppice in Kent, and the 1801 Ordnance Survey map shows outlines for the Torry Hill woodlands similar to those of today; evidence of hundreds of years of continuous traditional management.

The chestnut coppicing industry expanded during the 19th Century due to a huge demand for hop poles from the brewing industry and more recently the Torry Hill woods were much improved in the first half of the 20th century by Douglas Leigh-Pemberton. He set about improving the woodlands by removing most of the ‘standard’ trees, ‘working over’ the woods by removing other species to make stands of pure chestnut and planting up gaps to create the tightly stocked woods that now produce a high number of very straight poles per acre.

The Torry Hill woodlands are cut once every 14 years in ‘cants’ or blocks of between two and five acres and the whole woodland is set up in cants that are cut on rotation, so that approximately one fourteenth of the woods are cut each year.

Coppicing as a management regime benefits wildlife immensely, particularly when carried out on a larger scale and with regular rotational cutting. The patchwork, of areas of different aged woods, produces a variety of habitats around which wildlife can move to find the perfect environment.

The Torry Hill chestnut woodlands have an extensive network of woodland tracks and rides, all of which have open public access for walkers. The tracks are mown each autumn and the sides are cut back. This keeps them clear for walkers, enhances their wildlife value and keeps them dry so that timber extraction is easier. No herbicides or pesticides are, or have ever been, used in the woodlands, except in two very specific small areas where control of rhododendron was necessary.

“We are very passionate about wildlife and environment conservation and make sure that all our timber is given the respect it so rightly deserves,” said John.  “Rare ancient woodlands, such as the Torry Hill woodlands really are something to be treasured and not taken for granted. It is wonderful that a thriving business supplying traditional chestnut fencing is helping to keep the woodlands managed and in good health.”