

Welcome to Southwood


Southwood is a small wood in the Taw Valley, North Devon whose owners aim to improve its bio-diversity.
The Work Programme
Ongoing Projects
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Plant intermediate layers of shrubs & small trees.
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Encourage ground cover, especially flowers.
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Renovate the pond and diversify the surrounding vegetation.
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Using a retort, produce 90+% carbon from rhododendron for sale as barbeque charcoal or BioChar.
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Treat rhododendron regrowth.
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Clear and stack the remaining rhododendron timber.
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Maintain the paths we've made through the wood.
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Maintain and re-lay the existing hedge along Kingford Hill.
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Maintain the bat and bird boxes
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Consistent coppicing of hazel and oak
Future Plans
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Clear the stream bed into and out of the pond
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Erect log benches and information boards, highlighting the history of charcoal production in the wood.
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Improve marketing of our charcoal and BioChar.
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Plant new hedgerows.
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​Establish dead hedges along boundaries and paths using coppiced material.​
News
March 2025: Eggesford Farm Shop has reopened and agree to stock Kingford Mill Charcoal
News
10 March 2025: First firing of the retort this year.
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News
​March 2025: The pond continues to leak! More work on clearing the stream bed tat runs down from the pond
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