Peter Noest on planting trees in his Cotswold estate

I once had a farm… (so the film goes) in Wootton Bassett, now renamed Royal Wootton Bassett, and I always had a passion for trees and re-wilding.

I’d agreed to buy Little Park in 1986, with the Queen Anne house and stables being the main attraction. It extended to 240 acres of fairly heavy clay, all down to grass. I subsequently acquired a further 40 acres from a neighbour. It was what could rudely be called a ‘hobby farm’, as the income from cattle or sheep grazing at £30 per acre would never have paid for school fees, let alone holidays. A similar sort of situation as exists today.

Luckily, I had a job in London.

But 280 acres! I couldn’t just ‘subsist farm’, so how could I add value?

Fortunately, shortly after purchase, my neighbour Angus Ivory invited me to a talk given by Hamish Orr-Ewing, then chairman of Jaguar, who – amongst a number of interesting comments – said, ‘Farmers have to adapt and diversify, and can no longer rely on the Milk Marketing Board and other ready markets for potatoes, eggs, etc.’

Peter Noest From this, sprung a number of initiatives – from yoghurts, to cheeses, hams, goat farming, grains and other speciality food stuffs. At about the same time, I sold some shares and was considering how best to invest it.

Horses? No more, thank you.

Sheep? Borderline economic.

Cattle grazing? Damage and liabilities.

Events? Break even, at best.

Then Kevin Ruane, a friend of mine, introduced me to Exbury Trees and their senior man Len Stockwell, who not only showed me around, but extolled the interesting economics. He thought my land was ideal for 20/30 acres of trees to be “grown on”, taking advantage of the abundantly moist soils. That in turn led to an introduction to Coles Trees in Leicestershire, who became my supplier of young trees. One could then always buy “whips” at £30 per hundred and plant them up, but this would need careful and regular maintenance for 10 years to get them into 10/12ft slender trees. Far better to let others do the hard work (Coles) and buy them in as standards at 10 years of age and already “formed”.

And so, it began…

I chose, with advice, a range of popular species of trees – maples, sycamores, horse chestnuts, alders, London planes, poplars, oaks, willows, whitebeams and limes – and bought 2,000 per annum between 1987 and 1991.

I learnt lots:

How to plant quickly so the roots don’t dry out

How to dig 30 holes an hour

How to keep the roots moist

How to stake to protect against the westerly prevailing winds.

How to keep weed-free and rabbit-proof

The secret is heavy moisture-retaining, but free-draining soils

Avenue of maples near Tetbury We mowed between the rows, but we never strimmed around the base of the saplings for fear of bark damage, and because we didn’t want to encourage rabbits to find the juicy bark. Each year, we provided fertiliser around each of the trees, but in ever-enlarging circles to encourage outward root development. After year three, with the faster-growing trees, we would use a “tree spade” to cut around the roots to encourage as compact a “ball” as possible for future “root balling”.

When push came to shove, we hired a low loader and four/five students from the Royal Agricultural College, who – together with our farm staff – started planting for friends (initially) around the county. Over time, we supplied estates and business parks, as well as London Docklands, numerous country houses and barn conversions in Gloucestershire and Wiltshire.

I had no idea what these plantings would look like 25/30 years. It wasn’t my grandfather who planted these, nor my father, but me and the team with emergency help from my eldest son, Tim, when we found that we needed a metal bar to break through the underlying limestone on one farm!

And so, from early December until the end of January, we planted every year.

Even Eddie my farm manager rose to new challenges…

What did he know about sheep and lambing? (We had to buy in 350 ewes to act as lawn mowers on the remaining 250 acres.)

What did he know about tree planting and subsequently tree lifting?

Could he drive a JCB? No, but he did learn, rising to each challenge with the usual grunt, ‘and what’s it to be next?’

By 1995, he’d planted in four counties – Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Warwickshire and Sussex – and loaded lorries for London.

Tranformed farmland We also applied for grants for five FWS (Farm Woodland Scheme) plantings of 2.47 acres each. These were very generous grants for a range of native deciduous trees, which paid for the whips and the deer fencing to protect each enclosure. We also started setting up the tree nursery shortly after we bought the farm, and planted four miles of hedging as well as an inordinate run of post-and-rail fencing which not only didn’t grow, but didn’t produce any financial returns!!

At some point our “greening” efforts came to notice and the Forestry Commission and our MP, The Rt Honourable Richard Needham, came to Little Park to make a video, (which sadly I now cannot find!) The point of it was to prove how quickly farmland could be restored in such a way as to attract wildlife. We had stopped spraying the herbicide MCPA, the hares had come back, as did The Marlborough College Beagles, The hunt started catching foxes, the pheasant, partridge, duck and goose populations rose and we found an increasing number of roe deer (a mixed blessing).We culled 25/40 magpies a year using a Larsen trap, which also encouraged growth in the small bird population, whilst at the same time we were feeding one pair of kestrels and sparrow hawks.

As the overall tree cover improved and the grassland responded to better management, we also built a cross-country course over the farm of 2.8 miles and 25 fences which became the venue for the Beaufort Team Chase.

A roundall of trees near Bibury As our tree nursery developed, we started selling trees from 1991, and planting them for our clients. We planted in threes, fives, or in avenues or – on one farm – in 20 clumps of 15/20 trees in post and railed “roundalls”.

The following is a selection of the plantings I’m most proud of, together with two copies of the O.S. Map from pre 1985 and post 1995 which shows the recorded “greening” of Little Park.

As far as the financials are concerned, growing on trees was a “no brainer”.

280 acres x £30 per annum=£8,400 for grass keep

The tree business produced about £100,000 sales p.a. in year five (though that was predicated on little return in the first three to four years with planting costs at £30,000p.a.).

Taking the costs of new stock (2,000 trees @ £10) and maintenance and general expenditure of £30,00 left a profit of £50,000 p.a.

There were tax advantages (Schedules B&D) which probably don’t apply today, but which allowed costs to be offset against income and the growth in values treated as tax-free.

Trees near Sopworth

Historical notes

Throughout the country, a substantial amount of landscaping and planting was undertaken in the 18th century, most notably by Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown until his death in 1783. Humphry Repton turned to landscape gardening in 1788 and pupils of Capability, such as Henry Holland, Samuel Lapidge and John Spyers continued the works which so benefit many estates to this day. Much of the planting ceased in the early part of the 19th century due to the Napoleonic wars and a substantial number of magnificent trees were “lost” to ship building, particularly in the original ‘New Forest’ area.

The Victorians were less keen on gardening and creating landscapes, and left their mark mainly in architectural terms, massive, elaborate and usually complicated, certainly when compared with earlier forms of Georgian, Queen Anne and William & Mary styles.

The early 20th century saw the First World War, the famines and depression in the 20s and 30s, and then the Second World War.

Trees at the Beaufort Polo Ground During this period estates were regarded as liabilities rather than assets and many were sold, abandoned or given away – some even at card games!

After the war, a family who had moved out of their ancestral home following requisitioning, found they were reluctant to move back in again and even more reluctant to restore, repair and bring back into condition their original homes. Most found that they could live in smaller houses, with fewer staff and lower heating costs. Many larger houses (2,500+) fell into dereliction and as a consequence one can imagine few families even thought about planting trees and enhancing landscapes.

That mood continued until the early 1970s, when new money was made and thoughts to improve views and landscapes once again turned to tree planting.

In the 1980s this trend continued both in parkland design and also in the planting of coverts, belts and woodland schemes (set aside, etc)

So what has happened? Largely due to the longevity of English hardwoods, we watched the trees grow, we never under-planted, culled or thinned, and imagined that the trees would be there forever!

A drive near Kingscote

Two things happened… Firstly, many of the species planted by Capability Brown in 1750 had reached the end of their natural life by 1970. Beech, for example, tend to die, split, or rot at around 220 years of age and oak are liable to lose their boughs/ form over time unless carefully tended.

Secondly, the hurricanes in October 1987 and 1989 took an enormous number of trees. Some were clearly past their sell-by date, and some sadly were brought down still in their prime.

The good news that arose from these two catastrophes was that people became aware that trees are a managed crop. To be planted, to be maintained and, at the appropriate time, harvested.

Sadly, many of those wonderful estates are losing magnificent parkland trees before their “understudies” have really been able to make much of a statement.

Little Park opposite Royal Wootton BassettThe increasing availability of semi mature trees already 15/25 years of age and the equipment to safely transplant them economically has meant that there has been a significant increase in demand.

A small garden can be enhanced, a lone barn in a field with a new drive and 15/20 trees planted either side can be transformed. Similarly, 10/15 clumps in a 20-acre field can turn farmland into a “parkland”.

On the commercial side, every developer needs to complete his construction and “hit the ground running” with an instant effect of landscaping.

There’s a huge and growing market out there, and I hope I’ve inspired the young. It’s not a necessary skill, just a passion to leave this world looking better.