Westonbirt the National Arboretum

Family Days Out

Westonbirt, the UK’s National Arboretum is one of the finest collections of temperate trees and shrubs in the world, celebrated not only for its diversity of species but also its maturity and unique planting style.

Set out over 600 acres, the collection holds around 3000 different kinds of species and over 16,000 individual specimens, many of which are very rare, or the largest of their kind in the country.

Westonbirt and Sculptree

Sustainable Woodland Management

Sculptree Timber

Each year, the sculptors use about 24 tonnes of Westonbirt wood to bring their designs to life. This is a great way to recycle wood felled as part of Westonbirt’s landscape management. Westonbirt trees are felled as part of an ongoing sustainability plan. Wood used during Sculptree come from trees declared dead, damaged or dangerous­ – no timber is specially felled for use at this event.

Over the 17 years of Sculptree, 400 tonnes of Westonbirt timber has been reused – that’s equivalent to 80 African elephants!

Making a difference

Transforming lives using trees

The eight-day event culminates in an exciting auction finale on Bank Holiday Monday, where you have the opportunity to buy your very own sculpture. Proceeds are split between TREE AID, the sculptor and Westonbirt Arboretum.

Sculptures have traditionally sold for anything between £800-£10,000 and Sculptree has raised an average of £14,000 each year over the last five years for TREE AID.

Simon Toomer, Director of Westonbirt Arboretum explains why Sculptree is so important to Westonbirt:

“The Festival of the Tree at Westonbirt has always been the event that allows us to most clearly demonstrate the important links between trees and people.

“Sculptree provides a focal point for the Festival of the Tree with visitors able to watch the fantastic, giant wood sculptures being created from trees felled during management work in the arboretum.

“Increasingly the event has taken on a wider brief, promoting understanding of the reliance of Human Beings on trees, exploring biodiversity and threats to our forests, such as climate change. But of course The Festival of the Tree still really good fun with an amazing array of stalls, exhibitions, master classes and hands-on activities to inform and entertain anyone with a love of trees and the great outdoors.

“Westonbirt Arboretum and The Forestry Commission are very proud to work in partnership with Tree Aid. The charity’s work in Africa and their involvement in the event help us all to understand the wider significance of trees in meeting fundamental needs for so much of the World’s population.

“This in turn helps us to make the link between the beautiful trees seen in the arboretum and their wild counterparts in the forests around the world. It also gives us the opportunity to support their important work in protecting trees and the people who rely on them.”

History

Holford Drive

Westonbirt Arboretum is unique because of its picturesque planting style and the trees that make up its collection.

Robert Holford, the arboretum’s creator inherited the estate in 1839 during a time of great excitement in the plant world. Victorian plant-hunters were bringing new and exotic species from the farthest reaches of the British Empire and these formed the basis of much of the collection.

The Forestry Commission took over management of the site in 1956 and began the task of mapping, cataloguing and labelling the collection for the first time.

From its beginnings as a rich man’s passion, the arboretum now revolves around the unique collection of trees and shrubs; it has become a vital resource for conservation, recreation and education.

The Collection

Young Seedlings

A dedicated team of arborists, horticulturists and other technical staff propagate, plant and maintain Westonbirt’s 16,000 trees and 600 acres of grounds.

Every year Westonbirt plant about 300 to 400 trees. Planting work also continues to expand growing parts of the arboretum such as Maple Loop. It’s surprising to some, but effective management of woodlands also includes the removal of trees. Trees may need to be removed for safety, due to disease or to allow other plants the light and space to grow.

The highly skilled work of dismantling a tree is carried out by the climbing arborists in the tree team using ropes and harnesses. Trunks from the trees are sold for a variety of uses, from flooring through to wood chip, or are saved to be turned into the fantastic sculptures created at Sculptree, part of Westonbirt’s Festival of the Tree.