Mary Watkins was the wife of the late Kenneth Watkins OBE, founder of the Woodland Trust, and one of his staunchest supporters. She accompanied him on his countryside forays to look for suitable woods to rescue and restore, and even designed the first Woodland Trust logo at their kitchen table.
Sadly, Mary died in 2007, but the substantial legacy she left the Trust is playing a huge part in shaping the future of woodland.
As a child, Mary loved Delamere Forest in Cheshire, her younger sister Audrey recollects. Mary had intended to train as a primary school teacher, but when the war began she volunteered to work as a land girl, initially as a ‘timber jill’ for the Women's Timber Corps, then later as a farm girl, which sparked her interest in farming.
In 1946, Mary enrolled in the Moulton Agricultural Institute and became firm friends with fellow student, Patricia Le Fanu. The friends worked together for a year on a dairy farm in Hampshire before buying a farm at Harford on the edge of Dartmoor.
Just a few minute’s walk from the farm lived brothers Kenneth and Leon Watkins. In the fullness of time, Pat married Leon and Mary married Kenneth, starting the partnership that would encompass many interests and achievements, not least the founding of the Woodland Trust.
