The National Forest Podcast

In this episode, we explore the future of the National Forest. What will it look like centuries from now, when today’s National Forest babies are the ancestors of future generations? Our experts and advocates share their visions of a world where green space is truly accessible—and how long it might take to get there. We ask big questions, dream big, and invite you to be part of the journey. Who’s...

We visit Timber Festival – the former festival that took place in the National Forest at Feanedock Woodlands. Here, art, culture and wellbeing are at one with the landscape. It’s joyous – a slice of the harmony the National Forest's strategy aims to create long-term. We celebrate everything the Forest has achieved so far, and take an in-depth look at how it’s brought the community together.

We’ve caught up with the present day: it’s 2023 and the National Forest is growing and firmly entrenched in the landscape. Now, we have the space to think about expansion and our place in the world. We check in with our environment, economy and society. We’ve come so far, and made a huge impact. But new areas of focus have emerged since we began: the cost of living, mental health provision, and th...

Our tree is now a seedling, and the soundscape has changed again. Is that the sound of water? It’s the 2000s, and the Ashby Canal is newly reopened. We plant the Forest's five millionth tree just outside Burton upon Trent and launch the National Forest Wood Fair. Our 06 March 2023 National Forest babies are teenagers now, and talk about their experience of growing up here. The National Forest is i...

 We’re in the same place, but now it’s 1995 and the National Forest Company has been officially founded. We visit the site where the first National Forest trees were planted. We speak to a group of young adults; they are all very different, but have one thing in common: there were all born here in 1995. We speak to their older family members about what was happening for them at that time; their wa...

The rumble of traffic, the creak of rusting machinery; a distinct lack of wildlife’s thrum. This is the sound of the area that would eventually become the National Forest – but now, we’re in the late 1980s, following the closure of the coal and clay industries there. In this episode we focus on the things that preceded the National Forest’s inception, culminating in a land crying out for regenerat...