This week I went to this year’s APF Exhibition for the first time, held at Ragley Hall south of Birmingham. The APF is the UK’s largest trade show for forestry and woodlands, and has been running every other year since the 1970s, apart from a COVID break in 2020. Hundreds of exhibitors and tens of thousands of visitors. With £80 million of equipment on display last time, the emphasis of the event is naturally on “Big Forestry”. However, there are also areas for traditional woodland crafts including pole lathes, charcoal burning, and horse logging. Several major competitions are hosted by the event: in chainsaw carving, pole climbing, forwarder driving, and fence building. And there are stands for the Forestry Commission, the Royal Forestry Society, the Small Woods Association, and the National Coppice Federation. I managed to talk to quite a few people and also took the photos below.
For someone looking into buying a small parcel of woodland for recreation and personal education, are there any UK shows you can recommend attending in 2025? I would love to meet and speak with people in the same position or who are in trades and businesses related to small woodland management.
A really good place to get started is with the Small Woods Association. They run events around the country, including woodland visits, but mainly at the Green Wood Centre near Ironbridge in Shropshire. Lots of people at their events own or manage woodlands and getting woodlanders to talk (at length) about their woods is rarely a challenge! Good luck. https://www.smallwoods.org.uk/