Stroud: Woodland opens for children and community

Sladebank Woods hosts forest schools, as well as exercise and general relaxation for all ages

Volunteers have created a flat pathway through a woodland on the edge of a housing estate to help make it accessible for more people.

Stroud's Sladebank Woods was now suitable for wheelchair users and others with mobility issues, its co-owners Martin and Kesty Jakes said.

As a result, St Rose's special education school in Stroud has started holding outdoor lessons there.

"It's unique really," Lea Anna Ewing, a teacher at the school, said.

She said she had been working at the school for 27 years and had tried to access the woodlands for her pupils for all that time but the uneven surface meant it was not possible before.

Charlie is one of the children from St Rose's School who has lessons there. He said he is happy to be there and loves the woods.

Resident Kate Lewis uses crutches and said in the past she felt she was unable to make the most of where she lived by visiting the woods, because it used to be a "bit of a liability" on crutches.

"It's so beautiful," she said.

Kate Lewis is on crutches and has been able to access the woods. She said "Tree bathing is good for your mental health".

Environmentalists Martin and Kesty Jakes said the accessible pathway created by community volunteers in the past month was the culmination of their long held dream to create "a woodland for all".

They bought the woodland on their doorstep in 2,000.

Martin Jakes said: "I still get that feeling of the woods being in touching distance and why shouldn't that be open to people who don't find that easy to do."

Martin Jakes has been helped by volunteers to build the woodland