Who are the Woodland Trust?

In 1972 a group of friends gathered round a kitchen table in Devon to discuss saving a local wood: that day the Woodland Trust was born.

The Woodland Trust has grown significantly over the years.

Credit: Laurie Campbell / WTML

The kitchen table belonged to Kenneth Watkins OBE – our founder and first chairman – who was so concerned about loss of ancient woodland, he decided to do something about it.

Now we stand up for trees as the UK’s largest woodland conservation charity. We have 500,000 members and supporters and more than 1,000 woods of our own which are free to visit anytime.

Our head office is in Grantham, Lincolnshire, but we have regional offices in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland too and a network of volunteers all over the British Isles.

We create havens for wildlife by planting millions of trees every year, campaign for new laws to protect ancient woodland and restore damaged ancient woods so they can breathe again.

Our vision is a UK rich in native woods and trees, for people and wildlife.

We can’t achieve it on our own. We need your help too.