Over the last five years, local business Reabrook Ltd has supported the National Forest Company (NFC) in developing the attractive woodland and parkland landscape at Boothorpe, near its headquarters in Moira.
Reabrook staff and directors have helped plant trees, build crates for larger parkland trees and, most recently, were on site to waymark a new bridle route that has been created throughout the site. A new 2.5km circular permissive bridle route has been created by the NFC, giving local horse riders an interesting and undulating ride through a beautiful part of the Forest – the rolling hills of the Ashby Woulds.
‘We have been wanting to increase access for horse riders in The National Forest for some time and developing our site at Boothorpe presented us with a perfect opportunity to do just that,’ explained John Everitt, Chief Executive NFC. He added: ‘Over the years we have created infrastructure and improved access for a range of other users of the Forest – walkers, cyclists, those who use wheelchairs and families with buggies – and now we are delighted to have been able to open a new route for horse riders.’
‘We all had a lovely day way marking the permissive horse route,’ agreed Clare Hetherington, Marketing Manager for Reabrook. ‘Employees from all departments of the business were able to take part and we really enjoyed the teambuilding aspects of the task; from map reading to attaching signs to the posts and fences. We were fortunate to have enjoyed some beautiful weather on the day and were all really impressed with the breath-taking views around the route. Our hope is now that the horse riders enjoy the area and the route as much as we did.’
Over the last 25 years, creating The National Forest has more than trebled the land open for public access.
- 80% of the new woodlands and other habitats have open public access and a further 6% of sites have access planned (86% in total).
- 102km of new cycleways have been created, including 60km of Sustrans routes and 16km of trails at Hicks Lodge, the Forestry Commission’s National Forest cycle centre.
- Over 45 new sport and recreation facilities have been created including fishing, mountain biking, orienteering, carriage driving, cross country horse riding and sledging.
For more information on The National Forest Company’s positive impact on our local area visit: www.nationalforest.org