Sweet Chestnut, felled stacked and ready to be turned into fences

• Chestnut will long outlive the softwood alternatives ! Softwood timber for outdoor use needs to be treated to stop it from rotting, being eaten by insects and attacked by fungus. From 2000, EU constraints restricted the use of certain fungacides and substances previously used in timber treatment. The most significant being Arsenic. Timber is now treated using different processes and less toxic substances. Great news for the environment! However time is showing that these new EU approved treatments dont work nearly as well and the timber starts to degrade after a comparably short time. Fencing contractors, farmers and timber yards are starting to revert back to the use of Sweet Chestnut. They know they can rely on it to last alot longer, in or above ground, and not just on the surface, being naturally durable and rot resistant throughout.
  
  
  
• It looks great ! Because all our Chestnut is cleft (split) along the grain, it retains the character and contours of the tree. This rustic look is much more in keeping with a rural or garden environment than the dead straight edges of sawn timber fences.
   Chestnut fences will age beautifully too. As the wood seasons, the colour deepens and outer edges will crack slightly. Dont worry,this just makes the heart wood tighter and more dense and the appearence softer.
  
  
• Great value for money ! Sweet Chestnut is a naturally durable hard wood, ideally suited for fences and outdoor use. A cleft Chestnut fence will considerably outlive a softwood equivilant, and because the wood is split along the grain, rather than the being sawn though it, the strength of the tree is retained. Therefore, although our Chestnut prices are comparable with treated softwood timber prices, they will not need mending and replacing after a few years. A Chestnut fence can be expected to last,and still look lovely for decades.
  
  
• Support your local coppice industry and reduce your carbon footprint ! All our Chestnut is coppiced from local, Herefordshire woodlands. Coppicing is recognised as being a great thing! It allows light to get to the woodland floor, encouraging flora, fauna and birds. The regrowth is vigorous and absorbs 5 times as much carbon as a newly planted tree during its first 5 years. It is also robust because its root stock is already in place.
  Traditional practices such as coppicing and green woodworking provide employment in rural communities and keep tried and tested techniques alive and applicable to contempory requirements.
  Local woodlanders help to keep our woods healthy and valued. By buying direct from us, you know exactly where your products come from.