IT'S played host to 'royalty', Jane Austen characters and the Peaky Blinders. Now a Derbyshire estate is undertaking its latest major endeavour - the restoration of one of its famous woodlands.
The Forestry team at Chatsworth House is planting around 25,000 new trees to create a more diverse Stand Wood, with a much wider variety of species including oak, hornbeam, birch, alder, sycamore and yew trees across its 155 hectares.
All of the saplings have been grown in UK nurseries and while different species grow at different rates, most of the tree canopy is expected to be above head height in the next 10-15 years.
John Everitt, forestry manager at Chatsworth: “We have records showing the woodland has been planted and replanted many times over the centuries.
"It’s part of the natural cycle with older trees and plants replaced with new growth - the trees we have recently replanted will soon grow to create a mature woodland again.”
“In fact, one of our retired foresters, Brian Gilbert, recently brought in some photos of him working in Stand Wood in the early 1960s. One particular photo caught my attention and shows a young Brian with a piece of pine pit wood slung over his shoulder, probably for use in the collieries that were such an important part of the local economy at the time.
“He’s stood on the road between the Hunting Tower and Park Gate Farm, with the timber on his shoulder being felled from the top side of the track as part of a gale tidy up during a bad winter in February 1963.
"In the background of the picture are young larch, beech, oak and sweet chestnut trees planted following wartime felling. These are the same larch and sweet chestnut trees which we have recently had to fell as mature trees due to the Phytophthora outbreak.”
The replanting of affected areas with a greater mixture of species will help make Stand Wood more disease-resistant as it replaces trees which had to be felled after approximately 5,500 trees (3,500 tonnes of wood) became infected with Phytophthora Ramorum.
The diseased trees were cut down to help prevent further spread of the disease to other areas of woodland on the estate and in neighbouring woodlands.
Working with the Forestry Commission to identify the infected areas, the Chatsworth Forestry team felled and removed all the larch and sweet chestnut trees within these areas and in surrounding areas where larch trees were at risk.
Old paintings of Chatsworth show that the hillside behind the house was completely devoid of trees until it was replanted in the 18th century with the woodland having undergone partial felling and replanting on a number of occasions since. Among the oldest, at the crest, are several mature beech trees from the 18th or early 19th century.
As well as its woodlands, Hunting Tower and four reservoirs, Chatsworth House has been used to film a number of series and movies, including The Crown, Pride and Prejudice, and Peaky Blinders.
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