Thetford Forest

By the end of the First World War the economic position of the large landed estates in England were bleak and particularly acute in areas of poor soil like Breckland.The forest workers were organised into gangs of between three and thirty, their tasks included clearing ground, planting, weeding and later brashing and thinning.They were employed by the Timber Production Department, and by 1943 the Women's Land Army had a training camp at Wordwell on the edge of the forest.Today (2013), the tree is the dominant species in the forest owing to its having greater resistance to fungal diseases and insect pests, more tolerance of the thin chalky soils and producing a higher volume of timber per acre.Oak tended to fare better but they grew slowly compared to pines, and were considered uneconomic with numbers being planted steadily declining.This process called brashing ensured easy access, less risk of fire and the first six feet of the tree had a reduced knotty core.Other thinnings had a wide range of uses including fencing posts, pea poles in gardens and into netting stakes for the local rabbit warrens.By 1950, demand from the National Coal Board for the timber decreased and the commission had to find new outlets, these included many of the smaller poles being cut up and converted into wallboard and some 60 tons of pine transported each week to a wood wool factory in Manchester.These changes have now attracted a wider variety of wildlife including birds such as crossbills and nesting sparrowhawks which have increased interest from naturalists.[1] The forest is largely surrounded by farmland, as well as the villages of West Stow, Ingham, Elveden, and the towns of Mundford and Thetford in Norfolk, and Brandon and Mildenhall in Suffolk.[3] The forest is well known for its scarce breeding birds, such as woodlarks, nightjars, goshawks, crossbills, siskins as well as an introduced population of golden pheasants.High Lodge Visitors Centre was opened in 1992 and has a cafe, cycle hire, adventure play areas, walking trails, outdoor concerts, theatre and entertainment.The forest also has hundreds of miles of singletrack, several black-graded bomb holes and a steeply undulating section called "The Beast" at the end of the Lime Burner Trail.[6] Madness, Razorlight, Plan B, The Wanted, Will Young, Steps, Ed Sheeran all played concerts in the forest during summer 2012.[8] The Roman road, known as Peddars Way leads from the north Norfolk coast and reaches its end in Thetford Forest, near Knettishall.