The wind without the willows: Wild Wood under threat as National Trust plans to fell riverside trees

[JAMMY]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/10/the-wind-without-the-willows-wild-wood-under-threat-as-national/

Winter Hill, near Cookham Dene, setting for Wild Wood in The Wind and the Willows and now subject to bitter debate over its future  Credit: Heathcliff O'Malley/Telegraph

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Wind in the Willows was written nearby and it is painful to witness such high handed behaviour.Philip Nugus,

• Patrick Sawer, Senior Reporter
• Christopher Hope, Chief Political Correspondent

10 September 2016 • 10:07pm

The trees and meadows of Winter Hill on the banks of the River Thames in Cookham Dean have a special place in the history of children’s literature.

It was this bucolic setting, after all, that was the inspiration for Wild Wood – home of Mole, Rat and Badger in Kenneth Grahame’s much loved 1908 novel The Wind in the Willows.

But a bitter dispute has now broken out over the future appearance of Winter Hill, following revelations that its owners, the National Trust, are to chop down many of the trees lining its slopes.

The Trust has told residents in the area that it intends to restore much of the wood, near Maidenhead, to what it says was the hill’s original grassland.

It says the site, which it took over in 1934, had been a chalk grassland slope with views across the Thames Valley that over the years became scrubby woodland

Residents whose homes dot the slopes of Winter Hill have condemned the plans however, describing them as destructive and at odds with the National Trust’s duty to preserve the landscape.

Philip Nugus, 68, a retired documentary maker who lives on Winter Hill, said: “The National Trust has just announced without any proper consultation with adjacent residents that they are going to cut down half the wood and poison the rest.”

He added: “This is arrogant behaviour and is diametrically opposed to their mandate as this is a Conservation Area within an Area of Special Landscape importance. The Wind in the Willows was written nearby and it is painful to witness such high-handed behaviour.”

Many residents fear the removal of the trees will live their homes exposed to more noise and intrusion from visitors and passing traffic.

 

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Grahame wrote The Wind in the Willows using the bedtime stories he had told his son Alastair as a basis for the adventures of Rat, Mole, Mr Badger and Mr Toad in and around "Wild Wood" and the river bank.

He drew inspiration from the area around the home at Cookham Dean where he had been raised by his grandmother.

The row over Winter Hill comes at a delicate moment for the National Trust. Earlier this week the charity was accused of "autocratic and out-of-touch behaviour" by Conservative former cabinet minister Lord Patten during a debate in the House of Lords.

The Trust has recently come under fire over its decision to buy more than 300 acres of farmland in the Lake District without purchasing the accompanying farmhouse.

Critics say this threatens the viability of the flock of rare Herdwicke sheep kept there.

At the same time it has been accused of planning to turn parts of the Lake District into a “second-rate Alaska”, after a leaked memo revealed a proposal to alter the path of the River Derwent to relieve the risk of flooding.

The broadcaster Lord Bragg, who has spoken out over the Trust’s purchase of the land at Thorneythwaite Farm in Borrowdale, has now joined criticism of its plans for Winter Hill.

He told The Telegraph: “This is yet another example of the National Trust’s ignorance and arrogance. Their behaviour around the place is truly shocking.”

The National Trust argues that its plans to fell trees on Winter Hill will restore views across the Thames Valley, bring back some of the chalk grassland that has been lost and “improve the experience for visitors and local residents”.

The Trust said its plan was only to remove many of the smaller trees on the upper half of Winter Hill, while retaining the tree cover around the homes built along the bottom of the hill since 1934.

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In its letter to residents the Trust pointed out that tree cover in the UK has increased from around four per cent in 1900 to 13 per cent today while at the same time the country has lost 98 per cent of its unfertilised grassland.

It said: “Whilst woodland has great habitat value, some of our most threatened species are those that rely on other habitats. Many of these habitats have been lost or become fragmented, so sustainable populations cannot be maintained.

“By removing tree cover we will, after several years, get a beautiful band of grassland colonised by orchids, butterflies and other invertebrates. This will blend into a scrubby woodland edge and then into denser woodland at the bottom of the slope.”

Rachel Forsyth, National Trust's lead ranger,  said: “Winter Hill had very few trees until the 1940s when grazing ceased and scrub began to encroach on the chalk grassland. We are keen to create a better environment for the people who use Winter Hill.

“Approximately 15-20 per cent of the current tree stock will be removed. This will enable us to re-establish the chalk grassland and restore a valuable link in the chain connecting up these nationally declining habitats.”