THE Woodland Trust, which is planting the largest new native forest in the country in Sandridge, has completed on the purchase of the site. The sale of the 850 acres of farmland was completed yesterday (Wednesday) and the Woodland Trust has marked its own

THE Woodland Trust, which is planting the largest new native forest in the country in Sandridge, has completed on the purchase of the site.

The sale of the 850 acres of farmland was completed yesterday (Wednesday) and the Woodland Trust has marked its ownership by putting up a board and installing a kissing gate.

Paul Hetherington, head of PR for the charity, said: "Completion is now complete and the land is ours but we are only putting 70 hectares into forestry use for now which includes three areas of ancient woodland."

The Woodland Trust had to raise £8.5 million for the purchase of land where more than 600,000 native trees will eventually be planted. It will be planting up pockets of land with trees with the remainder remaining in farmland use for the time being.

The charity had set itself a target of raising the first £100,000 by the end of September but Paul said it had gone far beyond that and was "more or less" half way towards the total sum.

He added: "It is going extremely well which is why we were happy to go ahead and purchase the land but there is still a need to get money in and to get it planted with trees.

"If people are interested, our website will have a map of the area available, suggested walks and a podcast about what you can see from different points.