Eskdale
The Forestry Commission is working with the community in Eskdale on a number of projects aimed at benefiting local people and the environment.
Giggle Alley
When Mary Fair was approached by The Graphic to record the completion of a quite different garden in Cumbria she opened her article with the following lines "There is , perhaps, no more beautiful spot in all England than the valley of the Esk". Giggle Alley is a small woodland extending to 9ha adjacent to and part of the village of Eskdale Green in West Cumbria. For the past 7 years the Forestry Commission in partnership with Eskdale Open (a community based group) have been working hard to restore the Japanese garden. The garden is open every day and is free to enter. Unmarked paths lead the visitor from the unassuming entrance up flights of steps and cobbled routes through the garden to a viewpoint and back round to the entrance. Parking is available just past the post office. A permanent exhibition and drop in unmanned visitor centre is open during the daytime at the back of St Begas church opposite the Post Office.
For more information about Giggle Alley you can read extracts from the 2006 Giggle Alley Forest Design Plan Review. All the documents are available as Adobe Acrobat files.You can read the Contents and Text, General Views, Perspectives and a selection of Maps - Location and Future Woodland Management , Future Conservation and Heritage and Recreation and Access. In addition we have produced a management plan for the Japanese Garden.
Woodfuel heating
The Forestry Commission is supporting Eskdale Open is establishing a woodfuel heating system at 3 pilot sites within the local community. A school, residential group of houses and a YHA are the first of what is hoped will be an increasing number of properties heated by locally produced woodfuel. The Forestry Commission is keen to develop local markets for timber and a locally skilled team who can thin and manage the forest to improve it for recreation and conservation benefits. The project is supported by Cumbria Vision and Claren with the feasibility study and technical advice from Econergy
For more information contact Gareth Browning on 017687 76816 or by email
