Saplings in buttercup meadow, photo by Joc Hare

Woodland Wonderland

Tree correspondent Joan Taylor-Rowan meets tree enthusiasts Joc Hare and Ian Money and discovers that dreams can become reality.

I’m sure you’ve noticed those “woodland for sale” signs along the A21 and maybe, stuck in a traffic jam, you’ve even dreamed of buying a woodland and living like an elf in middle Earth, or building a tree house and having a crow as a loyal companion — oh just me then. Some people don’t just dream though — they do it. One of these people is tree surgeon and wood sculptor, Joc Hare. Joc’s dream was both practical and whimsical – to buy and restore a piece of old woodland for coppicing – but also to cover the site with beautiful or unusual trees from all parts of the world. Coppicing is an ancient technique that involves chopping the main trunk and allowing the regrowth from the stump to develop, giving a regular and almost endless supply of tall slim saplings for construction, charcoal burning and traditional rural crafts such as thatching.

Joc Hare and Ian Money in the visitor’s cabin, Hammond’s Wood, photo by Joan Taylor-Rowan

After much searching, Joc found 16.5 acres near Catsfield on the edge of Hastings. “It was largely pasture and the woodland that did remain – Hammonds Wood – was neglected. I felt sorry for it,” Joc said, so he bought it. “Usually, woodland comes with lots of restrictions and covenants but because much of the land was pasture, I had more freedom to do what I wanted.” About five years after purchasing the site, Joc met Ian Money, a chef (now working in event safety) and a keen gardener. “Joc invited me to come and see the plot,” Ian said. “It was spring and as I set off to explore, I came upon a huge field of buttercups, and that was it, I was smitten.”  He now manages the plot with Joc. They have restored the original coppiced woodland and planted more than 5,000 trees.

I have arrived for one of the occasional open days Joc and Ian run in the summer. A winding tree-lined road leads down to a clearing with logstacks, lumber and wood mulch mounds. We drive under the mighty legs of a pylon and follow the road until it opens out into a parking area. Joc greets us outside the wood cabin that’s both a kitchen and meeting place for visitors. Around a wooden table, a few early arrivals are finishing lunch. The kitchen leads directly into one of the polytunnels where crops are grown for sale.

We begin our walk on a path that runs between the cider apple orchard on the left – planted and maintained by Joc’s brother Roger, an itinerant skipper and cider enthusiast – and a row of mirabelle trees on the right. From there we head into Hammonds Wood. Coppiced for centuries, the timber provided fuel for iron-smelting which had been an important industry in the area from Roman times (the name “Hammond” derives from the word hammonder — a person who wields the hammer at a forge). However, coppicing is a type of woodland management that has fallen into decline due to deforestation and less demand for traditional forest materials. Disease too, has affected the most widely coppiced tree, the sweet chestnut.

Trees in the world pinetum plantation, photo by Joc Hare

There are eleven plantations on the site. Some are practical – broadleaf trees for coppicing, continuous cover evergreens – and others are more fanciful such as the Wisconsin USA native tree plantation. Joc spent a few memorable months in Wisconsin, on a busman’s holiday building log cabins, and fell in love with the old growth forests. Then there is the pea family plantation, the tall trees plantation and the pinetum world map plantation, containing conifers from across the globe. My favourite is the plantation for trees that attract bees, which contains the delectably named goldenrain tree, Chinese tulip tree, sapphire dragon tree and the harlequin glory bower.

The trees are mostly planted from seed either purchased from suppliers or sourced from public gardens and parks in the UK. Before we left the EU, Ian and Joc were able to gather seed from suitable environments in Europe too, but that’s no longer practical. They told us about a particularly memorable trip to the botanical gardens of Tbilisi, Georgia, where they gathered wonderful seed but had to negotiate a series of intricate bureaucratic hurdles to get the seeds out and into the UK.  Thankfully, the Georgian trees are now happily growing in East Sussex. “We are noticing how different trees cope in the changing conditions caused by global warming,” Joc said. It is information which will be invaluable as summers become longer and drier.

A selection of organic produce from the polytunnel, photo by Joan Taylor-Rowan

We placed our ears to the slim trunks of Eucalyptus and listened to the wind as it vibrated in the trunk — a rushing sound like the sea. We crushed leaves in our hands to inhale the scents and examined seed pods of intricate design and colour. Returning a couple of hours and several plantations later to the cabin, for a welcome glass of spring water or cider, we were invited to pick our own organic produce from the polytunnel and garden. Plum tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, golden and red, hung from the vines like glowing lanterns. In another plot, large purple aubergines peeped out from the dark green foliage.  We filled a box with tomatoes, aubergines, padron peppers, cucumbers and figs. The garden outside had towering French bean plants loaded with purple pods (“easier to see than the green ones,” Ian joked), plus rows of chard, onions and garlic. These can also be purchased (if you’re quick enough), from their Hammonds Wood self-service farm “shop” in Harold Mews, St Leonards (unit 16).  But it’s not a conventional farm shop — are you surprised? Word travels via WhatsApp from Joc to local aficionados when there is stock available. Feverishly – and, I like to imagine pyjama-clad – they hurry to Joc and Ian’s office/studio in St Leonards to buy the produce that has just been harvested and sits temptingly on shelves outside, along with cider and jars of gooseberry jam.

But this is more than a hobby farm, it is a work in progress. They offer “rustic” camping — the site has a fresh spring and a composting toilet. It attracts people looking for a quiet, secluded place and has been a venue for field trips, community and work-group activities among others. It would be ideal for outdoor yoga or painting too. They also offer “work and stay” breaks, where visitors contribute to running the place in return for free camping and some grub. They deliver bulk bags of well-seasoned logs for wood-burning stoves as well as composted wood mulch, and there’s a selection of sawn timber that might fit a specific project. They are adding vegetable plots, fruit cages and possibly additional polytunnels and developing a tree nursery so that soon you will be able to buy the trees that you see on their open days. I’ll be ordering a harlequin glory bower whatever it looks like, just for that fabulous name.

For now, I’m about ready to scoff my griddled padron peppers with salt, followed by melanzana parmigiana to celebrate my aubergines and tomatoes, and I’ll raise a glass of organic, home-produced cider to Joc, Ian and Roger for the vision, hard work and generosity that has enabled me to enjoy this feast.

To find out more about the fresh produce or to contact Joc and Ian about other goods and services, call 07949 573684.

Also in: Green Times