Today we're at Greys Court which is not far from Henley on Thames. We're on the edge of the Chilterns
in the south Oxfordshire countryside. It's a very busy day today, we've got a lot of activity going on.
We're currently processing some of our felled oak trees to make timber for our estate
so we're producing lots of gate posts, beams planks and we're actually putting these to use
building a boardwalk to turn a very muddy inaccessible path into something that all our visitors can enjoy throughout the year.
All the timber that we're milling today comes from National Trust land,
either Greys Court itself or our tenant farm within five miles. These are oak trees which were
dangerous for one reason or another, often root decay, and the risk of them falling on a path
or onto property was too great, so we fell the trees but decided to put the timber to good use.
We're ensuring that we're not putting chemicals into the soil so the oak goes in untreated
and we hope this will last for many, many decades in the ground. When the trees are initially cut you create sunny glades.
Ground flora such as bluebells, wood anemone, yellow archangel will thrive
in that initial sunny patch and this draws in insects, particularly butterflies, which feed on the nectar.
As the shrub layer starts to grow this will create the thickest stage and this is particularly good
for nesting birds, and then you get the canopy closure as the trees reach maturity
and shade re-establishes, but provided this cycle is allowed to continue, felling in itself is not a bad thing.
The important thing is that there is no net loss of trees or loss of our ancient woodland.
So the boardwalk we're building is going to benefit a lot of people.
When you're visiting our estate walk you get to a section not far from our farm yard
where the path is very, very muddy in winter and even on a wet day like today
it's a quagmire so we're putting this boardwalk in to allow our less able visitors to enjoy this walk.
Push chairs, wheelchairs or anybody who might have difficulty walking
on the sort of rough boggy terrain can actually enjoy this stretch of path unimpeded.
Today it's just wonderful because it's one of those rare occasions when we can see
the whole process from going from timber from a felled tree
and then putting it into the boardwalk so that people can walk not only safely but without getting their feet muddy.
I do a lot of carpentry in my own spare time so I'm quite useful
with woods and tools and things. I quite enjoy doing carpentry so to me
it's like home from home doing this sort of thing so I'm enjoying it.
I'm a frequent visitor, I live locally and I've been a long term member of the National Trust and it feels like it'd be a good thing to do.
We've got a great bunch of people as well, we've got a good team
of fairly elderly gentlemen and we have a bit of a laugh which is brilliant.
The job of a ranger is hugely varied. Whilst the core of the work is managing the land
and that involves the habitat management and the access and infrastructure work
so that's the fencing, gate posts, that's our bread and butter, but occasionally we get roped into some unusual things.
Our house team will sometimes ask us for a bit of extra muscle to move grand pianos in the mansion.
Sometimes it's gathering holly and ivy clippings for Christmas decorations.
So the job is hugely varied, very often muddy, very often tiring, but always very rewarding.
If you're somebody looking to get into the world of countryside management, one of the best things you can do
is to volunteer with your local charity or if there's a local volunteer group,
I myself volunteered with one of those conservation groups at Greys court about 20 years ago.
Going on from gathering that practical experience, having some form of qualification in maybe agriculture,
forestry, countryside management, ecology, that's going to be a good thing to have on your CV.
Thank you for joining the National Trust at Greys court today.
It's been a pleasure to show you around and we'd love to have you visit whenever you can.
Your support is absolutely crucial to us, without your support we couldn't look after places
like this and carry out our essential work so we look forward to welcoming you again. Thank you.