Woodland Creation Scheme delivered at Oughtershaw Hall

A seven-hectare woodland creation project with over 6,000 new trees planted has been completed at Oughtershaw Hall in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. 

Started during the 2023–2024 planting season, the scheme led by Catch The Breeze Retreats, was funded through the Woodland Trust’s Grow Back Greener fund as well as a Forestry Commission Woodland Creation Planning grant after landowner Clive Sykes sought to create a dedicated woodland to enhance natural habitats and local ecology. 

Photo above of Ben (Oughtershaw Hall Estate Manager) and Clive Sykes (Landowner and Founder of Catch The Breeze Retreats)

A total of 6,347 trees were planted as part of the scheme, with a strong emphasis on native and naturalised broadleaf species. The combination was specifically designed to reflect local woodland types and support biodiversity, resilience, and landscape character. Trees include the hazel, rowan, aspen, downy birch, sycamore, wych elm, hawthorn, common alder, and bird cherry.

Inspired by nearby Ancient Semi-Natural Woodland, the design followed a graduated structure: a high-canopy woodland on the lower slopes, tapering into scrub and open space higher up to respect the existing landscape character and blend the new woodland into its surroundings.

This woodland will deliver several benefits locally including the mitigation of flooding by slowing runoff and increasing transpiration, enhancing biodiversity in an area previously used for intensive sheep grazing, and an improvement of soil health, allowing it to recover from prolonged grazing and begin storing more carbon.

Clive Sykes, landowner of Oughtershaw Hall which belongs within his Catch The Breeze Retreats collection is passionate about his properties adding value and complementing their surroundings. He said: “Having owned this land for years, I’ve always explored the idea of enriching it for the benefit of our people, our wildlife, and our planet.  By positively contributing in this way, we hope to enhance biodiversity, improve air and water quality, help manage flooding, and provide a natural environment for recreation and well-being.

“A big thank you must go to Luke Walpole whose expertise was second to none as he helped us pull everything together. Without his knowledge and assistance, it wouldn’t be the success it is today, and I very much look forward to seeing neighbours, visitors, and walkers enjoy the new woodland for generations to come.”

Luke Walpole, Woodland Project Officer, Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority said: “Woodland creation is often misunderstood as simply planting trees in empty fields, but it’s far more than that. It’s about restoring ecological function, enriching the landscape, and supporting the people who steward it.

“Schemes like Oughtershaw Hall show that woodland creation must work with the land, not against it, respecting what’s already there, whether it’s a hay meadow, a nesting wader site, or a centuries-old barn. Taking a holistic, landscape-led approach, with the ecology, heritage, and future of the land in mind, is not an optional extra. It’s the foundation of good woodland creation and it’s what makes projects like this worth doing.”

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