You deserve praise for wood! How a dog walker and nature lover raised £900,000 to save their beloved forest from an axe

Christopher Lambton ended his guided tour of the charming timber of “a whim” in 2001 and announced it was time to get him and his dog Lily back in his car.

He forgot about himself for a while, and he told me, “If you want to keep walking around, please do that.” Then he remembered, “This is not what I invited you.”

This is understandable. The 64-year-old has been popular in idyllic poetry covering 135 acres of Scottish border for nearly a quarter of a century.

There are signs of caution throughout the place to ensure that Walkers are pleased that they can enjoy spectacular views on his land and communicate with emerging arrays of wildlife.

But Mr. Lambton is no longer the owner, or at least not in the way he used to be.

Instead, he is an open facilitator of one of Scotland’s most exciting community buyouts.

He is the landowner and he realizes that the only buyer he really comfortably sells is the person in his life.

Others may give more. They will definitely finish the deal faster – and, when he first put it on the market, there will be a lot.

He has the right to sell to commercial developers – the outfit will fall down trees on the industrial scale of timber, expel nature from the country and deprive a community of beloved rural shelter. But can he live with himself?

Over the years, it has been spent sharing the charm of land ownership with anyone who cares about visiting – dog walkers, picnics, hikers – Mr. Lamberton decided that the answer was no.

A few days ago, after a two-year campaign raising £875,000 for asking price, a small community of outdoor enthusiasts finally gained ownership of Broughton Knowe Wood. Now is their own little paradise – a place where no one lives, but everyone can visit forever.

Many people are well aware of the format history of Scottish community acquisitions – they rarely make everyone happy. From landlords who are reluctant to let their tenants first refuse to divide the community into warring factions because of their new acquisition operations, few such deals prove to be painless.

But will this community fall in exceptional decline in the A701, within a huge distance between dozens of borders and the village of South Lanarkshire?

Of course, this place is an oasis of harmony this week – both full of the future and a gratitude for thoughtful management of past owners.

“I’m a highlander and have seen many community buyouts come and go.” Usually, I handle these things with a certain reservation. But there was a lot of hard work done before Christopher sold it – a lot of work done – it was up and running and it will continue to run.

“There will be a next generation to run it in the future. It’s so great.

Dog Walkers love the woods near Lanarkshire Biggar

She added that she and her husband Peter “paid what we could,” and she will continue to donate.

It was the beginning of Parkinson’s disease that convinced Mr. Lamberton to sell more than he had originally planned.

The former journalist, who later became the development manager of the farm in Galwald’s hometown near Silverton, bought the land for £80,000, and he used to live next to him. The late Army Major had a “vision” about the land and set out to turn exposed hillsides into a mixed forest of local hardwoods, including oak and ash, as well as commercial corks such as Sitka Spruce. As trees grow, wildlife is flooded.

After initially trying to convince a friend to make an offer on the land, Mr. Lamberton decided to snap it up himself, “more or less on a whim.”

“I think I started to build my own little playground and then sold a few Christmas trees.

Then my friends started coming here. They said, “Can we come and walk?” I said, “Yes, anytime.”

“We had already opened access in Scotland by then so I couldn’t stop anyone from walking, but I could make it easier by putting a small parking lot at the end of the woods.

“For me, it’s a great feeling. Some people don’t like having other people on their land, I just don’t understand. They’re very welcome. I can’t see any problems at all.

Broughton knows Woods has been secured by the local community for £900,000

Wasn’t he besieged by a day trip with beer, a one-time barbecue and a music-beating tour? “Never,” he said.

“I knew everyone here in the past, but as it became more popular, I knew there was a smaller percentage of them.”

There was already a pond on the land, but Mr. Lamberton arranged other ponds to place them. This means walking into a path, which also adds public access.

He hired a tree expert to carry out what he called aesthetic sparseness –

Create more elbow rooms in the forest while leaving the healthiest trees thriving – and sell wood on a small scale to help further improvements.

But it was the common lockdown five years ago that really opened Mr. Lamberton’s eyes because of the importance of his landholding to his community.

A visitor, former biology teacher John Hart, walked there every day. In a turbulent world of pandemics, this is a safe space accompanied by wildlife.

Ian Brooke participates in the effort to turn woods into community space

“I had to recognize him and realize he was a friend of a friend,” Mr. Lamberton said. “I ended up bullying him and started a friend of Broughton knows the group.”

It is part of a plan to attract public grants, something a single landowner cannot do. However, properly formulated groups can apply for a portion of community funding provided by Windfarms operating in the area.

A £16,000 grant followed, with Wood known as Broughton, further opening. Another pond was dug, the path was completed, and the picnic table and benches were installed. There is even a new wooden hidinger.

Mr. Hart compiled an exhaustive “census” of animals and plants found in wood.

The breeding birds there include Blue Tits, Vultures, Golden Crowns, Jays, Moors, Pheasants and Tawny Owls, to name just a few. In early spring, mammals and ponds have badge, sh, fox, mole, Stotes and roe deer. Meanwhile, about 14 species of butterflies have been identified – including the Red Admiral.

The cubs and scout groups began visiting the woodlands. Lambton has formed a friendship with a chair manufacturer named Peter Young, allowing him to build a workshop on his land to make furniture from a large supply of ash wood.

Mr Young has established a yurt in a quarry on the land, which is used in wood products and yoga classes. Almost organically, a private playground becomes a precious community space where hundreds of people are invested.

Then Mr. Lamberton dropped the bombshell. Faced with an uncertain future after Parkinson’s diagnosis, he announced he was selling.

Mr Brooke and Mr Lamberton discuss the woods’ plans

“Everyone raised his hands in fear and said, “No, no, no, don’t sell.” “I said, “No, it doesn’t matter, there will be people like me who will buy it there. ”

He soon realized that the cruel financial reality had other suggestions.

As I said, I bought it on a whim because I have £80,000 but not many people own £900,000 and if someone buys it they will have to make money from it. ”

The first few interested parties confirmed the worst fears in the community. They are commercial clothing. At least one of them wanted to clear the entire hillside, promising to leave only a few trees beside the pond.

“I feel a mysterious obligation,” Mr. Lamberton said.

“In my early days I spent a lot of time walking on the Scottish hills and thank you so much for going to great places and then walking up the Tory Mountains or Glen Affric. There are elements of charity, but I also like to do it.

He talked about his illness: “It interferes with your brain, and some people say they made a wrong decision with Parkinson’s. I don’t think it’s a bad decision, but of course, it’s prompted not only by looking at the facts, but by my emotions.”

Ian Brooke listened to all of this, who started walking dogs here in 2017 and soon became heavily involved in the effort to turn woods into multidimensional community spaces.

He said: “We are absolutely suffering after all the communities are working hard and enjoying the number of people who have some private buyers who can show up and clear it. There is one third of the wood here, so it is always a threat. Who wants to walk around on the dead stump?

Mr. Lamberton admitted tremblingly: “That would have been cruel.”

The chairman of Brooke’s Brooke’s Brooke’s Brooke’s Brooke’s Knowledge Community Charity is in a huge range of fundraising. A series of private donations came – some of them had four numbers – while others took the time to lay the impression of grant evaluators on the woodland.

Yurts became a gathering place for community acquisitions, and Lambton, as the seller, maintained a distance of respect while providing all the encouragement.

Knowing his intentions, the commercial bidders gradually disappeared, and Mr. Lamberton wondered if he might be forced to return to their tail, the tail between their legs, later, without the buyer’s hope of raising funds.

Then, in January, the Scottish Land Fund announced that it would grant 75% of the cost of woodland. More funds come from Scottish businesses and SSE Renewable Energy South. Online crowdfunding is to help bridge the remaining gap, and a few weeks ago, the target was hit.

“We’ve raised money and are now owners, which is almost incredible,” Mr. Hart said, with his efforts to attract supporters including writing an online children’s story about habitat loss that wildlife faces if developers take over the land.

After the sale, Mr Brooke, ecstatic Mr Brooke said: “Everyone you meet in the woods is smiling.”

This is certainly the case when the Scottish Daily Mail visited. Ellen, 71, lives near Biggar and John McCann, who are having picnics in the pond, while their grandchildren, Torran (nine) and Briden (five), five, are fishing for T.

“They will remember the day that day for the rest of their lives,” their grandfather said. “We have been here for five years.”

“The owner has a strong sense of community. He is known to facilitate the whole process,” he said of the buyout.

Maureen and Peter Bates (and their red setter Angus) also smiled. “We’ve been here for at least 20 years,” Mrs. Bates said. “We always thought it was our wood.” We’re glad that everything happened.

Pensioners Rosemary and Peter, who live near Silverton, also embark on the spring. They travel 10 miles every Thursday to five times a week. Why? “Because it is so beautiful. It’s so safe. “Rosemarie said. “I mean, we just like to meet Scotland. We are so grateful for what Christopher did. The easiest thing for him might be how he will get more money, is to sell it to a commercial developer.

As for Mr. Lamberton, he was smiling too. Of course, his profit at £80,000 is not a shortfall, but you suspect standing side by side with your neighbor is worth it.

In my case, community purchases are the best results. “He said. “I’m very engaged in it, and I still have a lot of information to convey. But the end of the bureaucratic process is a great relief.”

And cherries on the cake? “I think I’m a co-owner now,” he said. “With the rest of the community.”