"We bought a piece of ancient woodland in Yorkshire and it's changed our lives," says two pensioners from Nottingham

"We were always outdoorsy people but for some reason I started getting emails about woods that were for sale," recalls Jackie, who used to work in HR for a big law firm helping other people refer for retirement. "I just kept deleting them and deleting them, then a year down the line we’d both gone into part time working and we were winding down for retirement. And for some reason I opened one of these emails from Woodlands.co.uk and I realised that people do actually buy woods."

Jackie started to research what went into buying and managing a woodland, and how it could benefit them, and their family and friends as well as investment.

And it was while they were on holiday in Whitby that she broached the subject of buying a wood. "Dave nearly dropped his pint. We abandoned our holiday and jumped in the car and started driving round looking at woods.

“We had set out to find a wood quite near to home near Nottingham to keep us occupied and fit in retirement and something we could do together,” says Jackie. “We started looking closer to home in Nottinghamshire and then Derbyshire but we didn’t like any.” “There are a lot of woods for sale which are ex-Forestry commission but I wanted a good old English type of woodland with broad-leafed trees like oaks," says Dave a retired engineer.

They got a map and compass and drew a circle that meant the furthest point would be no more than one and half hours’ drive from home and when woodlands.co.uk came up with a six acre wood near York just within their search area they agreed to see it.

“We knew we’d found our ‘perfect’ wood as soon as we walked down the track towards the woodland,” says Jackie. "Initially it wasn’t about conservation. We haven’t gone through life thinking we want to save a tree. We wanted something we could visit, get involved in, plant some trees keep it alive, learn and meet new people –recreation and hard work. We also anted it to be gathering place where people would want to come.”

But once they had bought the wood, and with the support of the Woodland Trust and woodlands.co.uk, they realised exactly what they had taken on and the amount of work needed to maintain it.

"Left alone woods implode,” says Dave. “We got a lot of advice from the experts on how we could keep it as an Ancient woodland. An Ancient woodland refers to areas of woodland that have existed in records continuously since at least 1600 in England and Wales, and 1750 in Scotland. Only 2.5 per cent of our woodlands are classed as Ancient. These areas have maintained their wooded character for centuries and because of their long history of tree cover and relative lack of disturbance, it makes them rich in biodiversity and important for conservation. Almost 40 per cent of the UK’s Ancient woodland has been replanted with dense non-native trees, causing deep shade across the woodland floor, stifling the regeneration of undergrowth and native wild flowers. Non-native plants like Rhododendron and Himalayan Balsam are also encroaching into our woodlands competing with native plants and we realised that we had an abundance of both of these.”

And so they set about clearing their wood of brambles and bracken and invasive wild Rhododendron – a process that is still on going as it all has to be done by hand.

"They look stunning when in flower but they are a real problem for the UK’s native plants and trees,” sasy Dave. It chokes native woodland and shades out characteristic plants. It can also carry disease and is classed as an invasive species which can wipe out native woodland plants.”

They have also planted several hundred trees and shrubs from the Woodland Trust and are gradually hedging their unfenced boundaries. "We inherited a few hundred young oak trees with stunted growth and also many that were between 10 and 12 years old,” says Jackie. "Years of unchecked bramble invasion had pulled many of the smaller ones to the ground and we spent months fighting our way through the tangled undergrowth to free the oaks from their strangleholds, set them upright again and securely re-stake their deer guards. It was hard work but very rewarding apart that is, from all the thorns – that is painful, hard work – we used to play Game of Thorns when we got home. We must have save more than 200 oaks.”

The Kirkland’s wood is predominantly Red Oaks and Black Poplars and at the bottom of the wood they have large hollows that are dry in the summer but fill up from December when the River Ouse water table is high.

"Initially, the hollows were full of fallen trees and debris and again, our friends and family rolled up their sleeves and helped us clear them out,” says Dave. “If it’s a very wet, rainy winter the ponds join together and we have a small but beautiful sparkling lake. This winter the lake had frozen over and our trail camera picked up a dog fox and vixen walking across the ponds in the moonlight. They are stunning images that will never leave us.

“The changing seasons are a delight. Spring brings an abundance of bird species and many a happy hour is spent just listening, spotting and identifying them. Red Kites gliding high above our tree canopy are a joy to behold and the aerial flights of sparrow hawks, buzzards, and kestrels add excitement as we spot them.”

Initially the Kirklands would camp if they needed to stay over, but they now have a Landpod which is a temporary structure, so permitted, but gives the couple who are both 73-years-old, a bit more protection from the elements and also two double bunkbeds. “It’s brilliant.” They have solar lighting and friends and families helped them build a canopy over their seating and eating area.

Dave has been on a chain-saw course – something he heartily recommends if you are intending to use a chainsaw – and now chainsaw fallen trees.

You would think working in a six acres woodland could be quite isolating – not for this sociable couple. As well as visits – and help – from their daughters and family and friends from home, as well as other woodland owners and local using the nearby bridleway.

“Peopleask us all the time why we bout the woodland,” says Dave "If we are to preserve this ancient woodland that, according to historical records, was once part of a forest that provided enough oak trees to build a flotilla of warships, we must continue to clear, re-plant and maintain as best we can. We aren’t experts but we take expert advice and we add enthusiasm, elbow grease and the goodwill of family, friends and other fantastically knowledgeable woodland owners.”

“Without doubt, being in our wood has proved to be beneficial for mind, body and soul,” adds Jackie.

www.woodlands.co.uk