New course title: Planting and managing a woodland
Saturday 12 September 2026
This one-day course runs from 10.30am – 4.30pm in Stanmer Park, Brighton
Ever wanted to plant or manage a young woodland? Perhaps you already do and would like a little more advice.
This course covers designing, planting and managing a regenerative woodland.
The main focus is on planting and managing woodlands in their first few decades after planting, but discussion will also include mature woodlands.
Why plant a new woodland?
- Grow woodland products from poles to mushroom logs
- Provide your own firewood or woodchip
- Capture carbon – A new woodland capture on average 8 tonnes of carbon dioxide per hectare per year over the first 100 years. (Mature woodland trees store a lot of carbon but on average do not capture much additional carbon.)
- Provide habitats for wildlife – Diverse woodlands create islands for wildlife enabling passage between existing fragmented woodlands
Why manage a woodland?
- Thinning out trees allows the remaining trees the space to grow on to maturity. (Woodland that have been planted and not thined will usually become over crowded, leading to dead and poor form trees.)
- Obtain yields of useful timber and firewood
- Promote biodiversity
Managing a woodland is a rare privilege not open to many, but the planting of a new wood is a more realistic option for those with access to land and has a far larger impact on habitat and carbon capture. Many people think of time in terms of weeks; foresters think in decades.
What to expect
The Woodland management course will cover all aspects of planning, planting and managing a woodland particularly in the first few decades.
It is open to absolute beginners and people already engaged in woodland planting or management.
We will cover these key points:
- Reading the land, soil types, species choice, spacing, planning and planting
- Biodiversity, companion/appropriate species
- Weed control and protection from deer, rabbits and voles
- Nutrition, disease management
- Managing your trees: thinning to promote growth, selection for products, regeneration
- Legal protection, felling licences, planting grants and support from national bodies
- Local markets and the balance between woodland health and contribution to income
The course will be entirely outdoors and we will walk approximately one and a half miles, so please dress appropriately. Some of the day will be out looking at examples in the woods, some will be theoretical in our outdoor classroom.
For a taster of what to expect see this video by Andy:
Course tutor
Andy Reynolds will lead this course. He is a woodland owner and a consultant with a degree in woodland management and promoter of self-reliance. He has spent the last 20 years rebuilding a home and changing the surrounding fields from dead agricultural land into an oasis of natural life. Read his blog here.
Fran Pickering is a permaculture tutor with Brighton Permaculture Trust and will be assisting Andy.
Meeting point
The Fruit Factory
Stanmer Park (near University of Sussex)
Brighton
Sussex
Get directions to Stanmer Park.
Fees
- £175 – Sponsored/organisation rate
- £175 – Individual income more than 25k/yr
- £140 – Individual income 18-25k/yr
- £105 – Individual income less than 18k/yr
- £70 – Individual, concessionary rate (check eligibility)*
Booking
If you have completed the booking process but you haven’t received a confirmation email from us please contact us to check your booking has gone through.
If you are booking within two weeks of the event, or the event is nearly full, you will not have the option to pay by BACS. Instead, you will need to pay immediately using a credit/debit card or PayPal.
Booking link coming soon
