Blog

As a new member of the team (started last week), I have been granted a rare treat as part of my induction; a behind the scenes look at the Arboretum I’d only ever viewed as a visiting tourist.

As with most planning applications extra pieces of information have been requested from us. We have been busy digging holes in a variety of locations and pouring in water to see how well the water drains in the ground at the Arboretum.

Coming from Westonbirt's marketing office, I anticipated the Woody Women course to be something of a challenge.

We have now submitted our planning applications for the Westonbirt Project! It’s been a frantic few days, with several long supporting documents and reports flying through our emails for final tweaks and approvals.

The Westonbirt Project is progressing at an exciting rate and letting people know about what we hope to provide for visitors, staff and the local community is vital for gaining, and keeping, support for the project.

Of all the possible reasons for Westonbirt’s new spring photography shoot to be hampered, an extremely rare – erupt once every 200 years – Icelandic volcano was not one of our considerations.

We have all been very busy lately with a big push to get the drawings and our proposals finalised before we submit our planning application in May.

As well as propagating trees and shrubs for the Westonbirt collection, I am also working with two other organisations on conservation projects, namely Natural England and Plantlife.

Along with planting this time of year, we also remove trees deemed to be hazardous. Although it is always sad to see these large trees come down, it is part of the ongoing management cycle of any collection.

Hi I’m Sophie and the Project Support Officer for the Westonbirt Project. I’ve been here since the end of January and it’s whizzed by!...

Of course, people know about Westonbirt in the autumn and spring, they may even spend long summer days relaxing in the shade beneath some of our majestic trees.

This has been the most magical of all possible first Christmases at Westonbirt. Forget all the plastic ‘Winter Wonderland’ experiences out there, the snow has turned Westonbirt into the Real Thing...

It's been so cold in our office this week, that you might be forgiven for asking "What does a Climate Change Officer actually do?" Well my role is all about interpretation and communication.

Timesheets have been rather a big preoccupation for me recently, it’s been like drawing blood from a stone to get my Steering Group members to tell me how much time they’ve been spending on Westonbirt Project business.

The last couple of weeks have found me in a rubbish skip; tracking down a 5 foot blue fairy and trying to eject Father Christmas as a trespasser.