A FORMER farm with Royal connections has been unveiled as a 70-acre tribute to the life of the late Queen Elizabeth II.

Tidgrove Warren near Overton is one of the Woodland Trust’s Platinum Woods, a large-scale woodland creation opportunity for landowners taking part in The Queen’s Green Canopy (QGC).

A nationwide tree-planting initiative created to mark the Platinum Jubilee, the QGC was extended until the end of March 2023 to give people an opportunity to plant trees in memoriam to honour Her Majesty. 

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Tidgrove spokesperson Charles Sainsbury-Plaice said: “We’re delighted that our wonderful woodland-in-waiting here at Tidgrove Warren will be coming full circle and once again showcasing its Royal status by being part of a unique tribute to Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth.

“We’ll be allowing the already thriving landscape to continue to evolve and develop, and the new woodland habitat will serve as a vital wildlife corridor and buffer zone.”

The fledgling 70-acre woodland has been created without the need to plant any new trees instead careful management of the existing scrub will allow the wood to continue to flourish naturally over the next decade.

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Woodland Trust ambassador Jules Action said: “The Platinum Wood at Tidgrove Warren is a fitting legacy to the reign of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth and one that looks to the future providing, as it does, a vital haven for nature. We hope this visionary site will inspire more landowners to create the nature-rich woodland we so urgently need across the UK.”

The trust has given advice and helped determine the vision for Tidgrove, as well as exploring and helping with grant funding and research project possibilities.

Woodland Trust outreach adviser Mark Franklin said the chance to oversee the culmination of Tidgrove’s transformation from farmland to woodland was “incredibly exciting”.

He said: “Tidgrove is a wonderful canvas offering endless possibilities, with land at various stages of natural regeneration.

“The blackthorn and hawthorn scrub is already approaching woodland status in terms of maturity, and with continued management and the protection of emerging saplings such as oaks, beech and whitebeam, we will have a completely native wood within a decade.”