The Sunday Times visits Leader Wood

Our very own Leader Wood has been featured in a Sunday Times feature about the restoration of the famed Forest of Arden, near Stratford-upon-Avon.

The original Forest of Arden covered vast swathes of the Midlands from Birmingham to the Cotswolds, and was an evocative setting for many of Shakespeare’s plays including the much-loved A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Now the Heart of England Forest project is aiming to restore this with a new 30,000-acre native broadleaf forest.

Leader Wood

Leader’s commemorative wood within this project was planted to mark our 50th anniversary in 2015, and also in memory of Barbara Holden, the wife of company founder Bryan Holden and mother of James, Craig and Susan Holden.

The six-acre site covered by Leader Wood comprises 3,000 native trees including beech, birch and oak. In time it will grow to become part of what the project team call a ‘diversity superhighway’, providing homes for everything from otters, water voles and slow worms to rare birds like the Woodcock and Hawfinch and butterflies including the endangered purple emperor and silver-washed fritillary.

You can read the full article here (registration required): www.thetimes.co.uk/article/felix-denniss-woodland-dream-gets-150m-boost-f7qhn98dq

Leader managing director James Holden commented: “The woodland which the Leader team helped to plant will provide a place of peace and contemplation and a sustainable legacy for future generations, along with playing its part in achieving the noble aims of the Heart of England’s plan to plant a huge new native broad-leaf woodland in England.”