01673 818443Great news! After centuries of being decimated to meet the demands of numerous industries, Britain's woodlands are fighting back.
Forestry Commission findings for a United Nations' Food & Agriculture Organisation report show that nearly 11,200 square miles of the UK's land, or around 12 per cent, is covered with trees.
The gradual replenishing of the UK's woodland is gathering pace, after long periods when forests were removed for agricultural purposes and to provide wood for industries such as shipbuilding and, at one time, charcoal for wartime gunpowder.
But, despite the improvement, the UK still lags behind many of its continental cousins - the average woodland cover for Europe as a whole is 44 per cent.
Experts say that the trend towards planting trees is being boosted by environmentally-conscious families and people who see trees as a sound financial investment, offering them tax breaks.
