New £7.5million National Forest to be created in the UK – the first in 30 years
LEAFY GREEN
Plus, the UK park that visitors say looks like it's in Canada
THE UK is about to become a whole lot greener thanks to a huge new forest being created.
For the first time in three decades, the new forest is being created with the plan to plant 20 million new trees.
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The government is planting its first National Forest in 30 years as promised in their manifesto.
The Western Forest is the first of three planned new National Forests around the UK.
The site will stretch from the Cotswolds to the Mendips and by 2030 will have 2,500 hectares of new woodland and tree habitats.
All the work will be spearheaded by the Forest of Avon and supported by a five-year investment of £7.5million from the government.
It will span over 200 square miles across Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Staffordshire.
The government hopes to reach a target of 16.5 per cent of woodland cover in England by 2050 with 20 million trees.
The aim is that the forest will bring woodland much closer to urban areas like Bristol, Gloucester and Swindon too.
Other reasons for creating the forest are to stop the decline of species and reach legal environmental targets in the UK.
Mary Creagh, the UK’s nature minister said: "We will plant 20 million trees in the Western Forest to bring nature closer to people, prevent flooding and support wildlife."
The last forest to be planted in the UK was in the Midlands in the 1990s.
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Trees were first planted in 1991 and at the time, it became the country's first new forest in more than a thousand years.
In 1991, only six per cent of the Midlands area had forest cover, fast-forward to now and that figure is 20 per cent.
This provides green spaces for the surrounding four towns, Burton upon Trent, Swadlincote, Coalville and Ashby-de-la-Zouch.
One of the other proposed forests is the Northern Forest.
As the name suggests, this forest will be further north and will encompass five community forests.
The proposals suggest it will run the width of England, from Liverpool and Chester to the coastline of the East Riding of Yorkshire.
This would include the cities of Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield and Hull.
Currently, the area has just eight per cent of tree coverage - which is one of the lowest proportions in the UK.
The third new forest site will also be in the north, called the Great Northumberland Forest.
Rather than one forest block like the other two, this will become a wooded county with trees dotted around Northumberland.
There is also an untouched rainforest in the UK that is now a protected nature reserve.
And in Wales, there's a pretty UK beach where the 'forest meets the sea'.
The Hafren Forest in Wales has been likened to a national park in Canada by visitors thanks to its stunning views and walking routes.
Planted by the Forest Commission in the 1930s, visitors flock to the Welsh forest throughout the year. In recent months, several of those visitors have taken to social media to compare Hafren Forest to Canada.
Earlier this year, Instagram-user JessieAnnLewis wrote: "A hidden gem, Hafren Forest is a short drive from the mid Wales town of Llanidloes and well worth a visit.
"The boardwalk not far from the carpark looks like something out of a Canadian postcard."
Named after the River Severn, which flows through Hafren Forest, the Welsh forest is home to waterfall walks and forest trails.
The trails are marked from the car park, with visitors able to walk to the source of the River Severn, which lies just outside the boundary of the forest.
Other walking trails like the Severn-Break-its-Neck take ramblers through a wildflower meadow with a broadwalk section.
The route crosses a footbridge where the River Severn floods down a gully and forms a waterfall.
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