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We operate several other organisations out of our home, Leckmelm Wood. All our businesses share overlapping values and aspirations, and they all work together to help shape and sustain our overarching vision for the sustainable development and management of the forest.
A family of family businesses
Leckmelm Wood
Leckmelm Wood is a 32-hectare former Forestry Commission Scotland mixed conifer plantation, comprising of Sitka Spruce, Douglas Fir, Scots Pine & Lodgepole Pine. Our family, along with a family friend, purchased the forest in 1992. The forest has been our home since then and we are gradually working to restructure the previously unmanaged and relatively species-poor plantation. We are striving to form a more diverse woodland that offers a healthier more productive & abundant ecosystem for the people and other wildlife that inhabits it.
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Follow @forestlifeadventures on Instagram for a snapshot of family life in the forest.
Ecotone Cabins
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Our own North Woods designed and built, beautiful bespoke woodland cabins. Unique, high quality, comfortable, family-run and ecologically conscientious self-catering accommodation.
Come and get a feel for our buildings and our business by booking your stay!
Due to open in 2021
Follow us on Instagram @ecotonecabins
Kinder Croft CIC
Kinder Croft CIC (Community Interest Company) is an accredited outdoor children's nursery that operates within Leckmelm Wood. It was founded and continues to be run by members of the Planterose family, along with a board of volunteer directors from the local community. North Woods built all the nursery's structures from homegrown and milled timber.
The nursery offers child-lead & play-based learning with a focus on engagement and connection with the natural environment. We want to help contribute to the raising of healthier and happier children who have a stronger understanding of and appreciation for the living world and their place in it.
Leckmelm
Woodland Croft
We are in the process of establishing a pioneering woodland croft within Leckmelm Wood. This is part of our ongoing project to improve the diversity and sustainability of life in the forest.
Our goal is to create an organic forest garden that produces a variety of fruit, vegetables, herbs and other produce that will help contribute to the local food economy. We are gradually working to diversify the habitat of the previously homogeneous conifer plantation, so our forest garden will be planted with a range of species that offer food and shelter to other non-human species too.
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Writings
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Good Practice Guide to Hut Building, Bernard Planterose & Peter Caunt
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Highlands and Islands Woodlands Hand Book, Bernard Planterose
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The Crofter Forestry Handbook, Bernard Planterose
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The New Road | Postcards from Scotland, Alf Young & Ewan Young