Home Farm harnesses its woodland assets

The WARR partnership is helping a Wealden family farm breathe commercial life into an area of neglected woodland to ensure the farm continues to be a viable business for both current and future generations.

The 79 acre farm near High Hurstwood includes 50 acres of ancient woodland. This is in a typical High Weald ghyll – a narrow wooded ravine – which has previously limited the amount of timber that can be extracted from the site.

Now a Woodland Management Plan has been drawn up with help from the Forestry Commission and a successful application for RDPE grant funding through the Wealden And Rother Rural Partnership means specialist forestry machinery can be bought to create a sustainable new income stream for the family. The proposal has been developed with specialist advice to help manage the woodlands in a way which will enhance and maintain their value for nature conservation.

The ghyll woodlands are highly valued by the local branch of Campaign to Protect Rural England and Sussex University, whose students survey and monitor its biodiversity. The Woodland Management Plan will improve public access to the woodlands. It will also ensure that the ancient woodland continues to be managed in a way sympathetic to previous centuries, helping to preserve a range of Sussex flora and fauna.

At the same time the family will be able to make use of the growing market for local woodfuel by providing logs and kindling. This will provide much needed additional income for the family farm whose members include a qualified tree surgeon.

“This careful use of EU money is helping to preserve Wealden wildlife and landscape by equipping traditional industries with the specialist tools they need to be competitive in the 21st century,” said Councillor Roy Galley, Wealden member of the Board of the WARR Partnership. “It is very important to maintain a working countryside while preserving the tremendous biodiversity of the HighWeald.”

“The WARR Partnership Grant of £17,000 has been essential in helping us to buy the specialist Scandinavian forestry equipment to extract wood from such difficult terrain,” said Barry Rudduck of Home Farm Logs. “We are now making plans to expand the marketing of firewood using local garden centres and nurseries as well as using the internet to support sales direct from Home Farm.”

“The grant has helped to create additional part-time work over the winter season. Home Farm Logs expects to be able to offer a contracting service to other local woodland owners within a year.”

Customers seeking supplies of woodfuel in the Uckfield area should contact or ring 07776 263030.

Thanks to funding from Defra and the EU under the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE), over the five years to 2013, the WARR Partnership has £2.4 million to award to projects which help to improve our rural economy. Grants of up to £50,000 are available for activities such as: farm diversification; adding value to agricultural and forestry products; creation and development of micro-enterprises; tourism; village renewal and development, and the conservation of our rural heritage. For more information and details of how to apply, visit the WARR Partnership’s website at www.warrpartnership.org.uk, or telephone the team for advice and guidance on 01424 787400.