Celebrate the power of nature during National Tree Week
26 November 2021
National Tree Week sees people around the country joining together to celebrate the beginning of the winter tree planting season.
The celebration, which takes place between the 27 November and 5 December this year, highlights the importance of trees, both for the environment and for our health and wellbeing.
New woodlands provide many benefits for communities, including playing their part to reduce flood risk by helping to increase water infiltration and reduce surface water run-off, delivering more home-grown timber, providing more places for nature and biodiversity to thrive, and increasing people's access to nature.
In west Cheshire, our local Community Forest, The Mersey Forest, planted over 81,000 trees last planting season thanks to the Trees for Climate programme, a multi-million pound national tree planting programme.
This year, the team has already been out on site planting over 5,400 trees at a farm near to Frodsham and have plans to plant over 140 hectares across Cheshire and Merseyside by the end of March 2022.
Get planting
Planting more trees and hedgerows will make a big difference as we work together to tackle the climate and nature crises, but you might not know where to start.
If you have land available that would be suitable to plant trees on, you can contact The Mersey Forest team for free advice and support.
If you are interested in planting a tree in your garden, the team has a useful guide to help you plant and care for trees.
Alternatively, sign up for the Tree Council’s free webinar on Monday 29 November, 6-7pm, to learn all about tree planting from their resident tree expert, Jon Stokes.
Get out in nature
Getting out in nature and amongst the trees has many health benefits and studies have found that spending time in the woods can boost immune function, reduce stress hormones, and cause you to physically relax.
In west Cheshire, we’re lucky to have a great range of woodlands to enjoy on our doorstep, including Marbury Country Park in Northwich with its magnificent lime avenues and arboretum and Delamere Forest, with miles of walking and cycling trails.
- View Council managed parks, greenspaces and woodlands
- Explore woodlands and Forests across Cheshire and Merseyside
Get the kids involved
Woodlands are great places for kids to play and learn more about nature, and natural play is great for children's development. Research has shown that natural play can boost cognitive abilities, increase physical fitness, reduce symptoms of attention deficit disorder and even help improve grades in school.
To get some ideas of the type of activities you could enjoy as a family, download The Mersey Forest’s Trees for Learning pack which has suggested activities for every season and for a range of ages, from early years through to children in key stage 2.
If you decide to plant a tree this tree planting season, or have a favourite tree you would like to share, put the details on the ‘Your stories’ section of the Climate Emergency Inspire page. You might just inspire someone else to get planting.
