A LITTLE BIT OF THE ENGLISH WOODLANDS TIMBER STORY

Our history can be traced back to the forestry companies that emerged in post-WWII 1950s Britain, as national forest industries were booming. Oakover and Wealden Woodlands were two companies providing management services across Kent and Sussex in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Our very own Keith Seymour worked for Oakover, a company that still operates a tree nursery in Maidstone, Kent today. Across the UK, thousands of men were engaged in the clearance of “redundant” broadleaves and the establishment of new conifer plantations created to meet the surge in demand. All felling was done by hand up until then – with axes and cross cut saws – but into the 1960s and 70s, forest machinery crept into use. Chainsaws were used instead of handsaws. Small tractors replaced horse teams for transporting logs to roadside. Forestry moved towards mechanisation.