Forest operations diversions- Hats Wood

The felling operations in Hats Wood have now finished, so the diversions have been removed for now. Please be aware that there will be forestry works ongoing throughout the summer, and details of when and where will be posted shortly. There are no planned closures of trails or footpaths, though there may be some local disruption on some routes due to felling. Thank you in advance for your co-operation.

Hats Wood Circuit diversion

Due to Forest operations we will need to divert the beginnings of the Hats Wood, Longcombe and Black Hill circuits. Diversions will remain in place until further notice. Apologies for any disruption.

Tall Trees Top Ten!

Following the recent loss of the tall tree at Lake Vyrnwy in Wales, Dunster's tall tree- measured in 2009 as the tallest tree in England- may be even higher in the top ten tallest trees in the UK.

The replacement tall tree that was found at Lake Vyrnwy, and was shown on BBC's Countryfile programme, was measured as being only fractionally higher than the Dunster douglas-fir, which was measred at 60.05m in 2009.

We will be checking with the Tree Register where the Dunster douglas sits in this lofty competition, so watch this space!

To celebrate our tall trees we have installed an all abilities trail in and amongst them and called it the Tall Trees Trail- for more information see our website http://www.dunsterestate.co.uk/dunster_wood.html

spring has sprung- for now!

Spring is here at last- leaves are starting to appear on the hedgerow trees, birds are starting to sing and lambs are playing in the fields... Sights and sounds like this make it even better to walk on our new waymarked walking trails which have been completed over the winter.

Trails leaflets are to be available from a range of outlets locally- including B&Bs, visitor centres and camp sites- and on our website of course!

Scrub bashing for biodiversity

Crown Estate staff and volunteers have been busy controlling scrub on our heathland at Hopcott recently. We had a successful day on friday the 4th march where 60 people, including pupils from Minehead Middle School and members of the local community joined us on a joint Exmoor NPA, Butterfly Conservation, National Trust and The Crown Estate scrub bash event.

The good work was continued on sunday the 13th march, when we were up there again, this time with Avon Outdoor Group, for an Exmoor National Park help a ranger day.

Both days were enjoyed by all those that joined us- possibly due to the presence of jacket potatoes and marshmallows!.... For details of volunteering see our website, under 'what to do'.

what a start to 2011!

Sorry it's been a while since our last post- it's busy start to the year! so far we have planted 500 native oak trees in Dunster Forest with 70 members of the local community, established a committee of local people to manage the community orchard and arrange events, built owl boxes with volunteers, the forestry commission and hawk and owl trust, installed a brand new network of waymarked walking trails in the forest, and hosted the first of a number of bushcraft courses that will run over the spring and summer.

There is plenty more in the pipeline as we get ready for what we hope to be a busy visitor season, so watch this space!

Dunster now has a community orchard!

Around 40 local residents joined Dunster estate staff and parish council members on a cold Thursday 25 November to create a new community orchard as part of The Crown Estate’s UK-wide commitment to plant 3,000 new trees for National Tree Week (November 27 to December 5, 2010).

At Dunster, the estate and community decided to create a traditional orchard. In less than a hour, volunteers including children from Dunster First School, the scouts, members of the parish council, Dunster estate volunteers, representatives from other local community orchards, National Trust, Exmoor National Park, Orchards Live, and members of the general public successfully planted 57 plum and apple trees.

The Crown Estate is very grateful to everyone who turned out and worked so hard to get the job done. This orchard, which is to be maintained by the community, will be a genuine educational asset and I hope that the volunteers today will return in the future bringing others to enjoy “Apple Days” and similar events.