Sir Martin Wood

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In: comment, news, people

I am greatly saddened by the death of my friend, colleague, and patron, Sir Martin Wood aged 94 years. Sir Martin Wood FRS was a visionary engineer, passionate conservationist, and a prolific philanthropist, who had an incalculable influence on my professional and personal life. I first met Martin when, freshContinue Reading

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In: forestry, landscape, nature

The same year that I started planting Paradise Wood, a new forest and centre for forestry research in Oxfordshire, I started recording a view of the former arable farm from the nearby vantage point of the Wittenham Clumps. 2015 is the 19th year of photographing the same view of theContinue Reading

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I recently came across a bird’s eye view of the farmland at College Farm in Southern Oxfordshire, before I had designed and started the planting of two new woodlands: Paradise Wood and Neptune Wood. The aerial photograph, taken in 1991, clearly shows that College Farm was an arable desert.  WheatContinue Reading

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In: feature, forestry, trees

In 1995 I took a series of panoramic photos and made sketches to explore how Paradise Wood, the new woodland that I was creating for the Northmoor Trust, would fit in the landscape of the future.  I was developing Paradise Wood as a new woodland and a centre for forestryContinue Reading

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In: feature

I met the late environmental broadcaster and writer Roger Deakin (b. February 11th 1943 — d. August 19th 2006) when he came to visit the walnut trials I had established at Paradise Wood in Oxfordshire. He was researching for his book, Wildwood: a journey through trees, which would be hisContinue Reading