Sustainability

Sustainability is fundamental to
everything we do.

Coppicing is a regenerative process that supports diverse and complex woodland habitats. When not from our own woods, all of our timber is sourced from sustainably managed coppice woodland across the South-East of England, never more than 70 miles from our factory. The natural properties of sweet chestnut mean that the timber we use is entirely untreated, unlike the softwood used for equivalent purposes which requires energy intensive and chemical treatments.

Our factory is solar-powered and our production includes a number of processes done by hand, most notably traditional pale-making. This is the skilled art of cleaving a chestnut pole along the grain using a wooden mallet and a dole axe. No machine can replicate the work of a talented pale maker. Our production generates minimal waste, and anything left over is used for generating biomass renewable energy, as livestock bedding or as a surface for horse gallops.

With an eye on ensuring a sustainable future for chestnut coppicing, we work in close partnership with the Future Trees Trust. The FTT are working to develop new varieties of sweet chestnut in order to maintain genetic diversity and ensure the resilience of chestnut trees in the face of climate change and other threats such as ‘ink disease’ and chestnut blight.