More trees BANES

Making Bath and north east Somerset an even greener place to live, work and visit.

About us

More Trees, Bath

More Trees BANES is a not-for-profit community based organisation that works hard to grow, plant and care for trees in our local area. Set up in 2008, we’ve planted approximately 11,000 trees so far.

Since 2020, we’ve been focussing on growing our own trees with local provenance. It’s an exciting time for us as we set up a network of community tree nurseries across Bath and North East Somerset. 

Volunteer with us

There is a huge groundswell of desire to plant and protect trees – we provide a simple means for people to take positive actions to help the environment, their communities and tackle climate change 

Everything we’ve achieved, has been through people rolling up their sleeves and helping out in their spare time. We have so much fun, getting our hands dirty, meeting new people whilst spending time in the great outdoors. 

Community Tree Nurseries 

We have a growing network of tree nurseries in and around Bath and now in Keynsham, where we grow our trees on before they are planted out into their final destinations. We plan to extend our network across BANES in 2023. Each nursery has an enthusiastic and friendly group of volunteers who are always looking for extra help. No experience required!  

Tree Planting 

During the winter, we’ll be planting trees. This may be with BANES Council, Curo Housing, or other local and community organisations. Planting new trees is a satisfying job, where your handiwork can be revisited and enjoyed for many years to come. 

Tree Aftercare 

It’s really important that new trees are given TLC, particularly for the first two-three years – it makes a huge difference to survival rates. This work tends to be done during warmer months of the year, so bring a picnic! 

Seed Collecting and Processing 

Our volunteers help to collect, process and sow our tree seeds. Seed collecting and processing starts in earnest in September and continues through to December. The processing of seeds and growing on the germinated seedlings takes place in the “Hub”, based in Royal Victoria Park until May/June when the seedlings are then distributed across the nursery network. We will be training volunteers this year in how to identify around twenty native tree species and collect the seed for us from local woodland in in the Autumn. 

Other Volunteering Opportunities 

If you have other skills that we could put to good use, we need volunteers to help us behind the scenes e.g. representing us at events, fundraising, communications, producing content, social media etc. 

If you would like to find out more about our volunteering opportunities, please get in touch via the form below, or contact us on volunteers@moretrees.earth

community Tree nurseries

Why have we decided to start growing trees at More Trees BANES?

We are excited by the huge growth in tree planting, and groundswell of support, with lots of national and local initiatives underway to plant millions of trees across the UK.  However, we are wondering where all these trees are going to come from?

Here in the UK we import millions of trees every year, and most of our hard wood.  This can and needs to change, and we want to be part of the solution. We want to be part of the move towards more sustainable tree growing and planting in the UK by producing high quality trees, with local provenance, to be planted out locally. By doing this we can:

  • reduce the carbon footprint of trees planted
  • reduce the risk of importing and spreading disease
  • boost healthy growth and levels of retention by growing trees from local seed sources that are well adapted to our local environment
  • support adaptability to climate change by collecting seed from a wide range of sources to boost the genetic diversity of our stock, helping to ensure trees and woodlands can adapt to changing environments

We want people to get involved in this great venture!  This is why we have decided to set up a network of community-based nurseries so that people all over BANES can help us to grow thousands of good quality local trees each year.  

So far, we’ve set up four Community Tree Nurseries with more in the pipeline for this year and 2023:

  • Barrow Mead Community Tree Nursery at Rush Hill
  • Dry Arch Community Tree Nursery at Bathampton
  • The Shed at the Chocolate Quarter in Keynsham
  • Walnut Springs in Combe Down

People usually get together once a week at the community nurseries to help the baby trees thrive. The range of jobs include light weeding, watering, planting and lifting trees, as well as some larger tasks such as constructing compost areas and installing rainwater harvesting systems – something for everyone.

The nurseries offer a great chance to meet new people, get some fresh air and exercise whilst also making a real contribution towards helping our natural environment.

We are also delighted that we now have five schools with mini-tree nurseries and looking to set up more of these for 2023.  The school nurseries typically involve one or two raised beds.  We hope to develop our programme with schools to include seed collecting and to maximise the learning, fun and educational benefits from growing trees in their school grounds.

All of our trees grown in the community will be planted out locally, within ten miles of where the seed was first collected

WHAT ELSE DO WE NEED?

Space. 

We need space to grow saplings. Our ideal community nursery locations will be with established community groups or organisations.  We provide the seedlings and these are transferred to the community nursery in the Spring.  All you need is space for one or two raised beds, permission from the landowner/owners and enough volunteers to help look after the trees through the year.  Training and support is given in the art of tree growing (although we are still learning ourselves!).  We also help set up larger nurseries where there is particularly strong community support/enthusiasm and for example, we are currently working with a Parish Council in Chew Valley to set up a new nursery at the centre of the village.   

If you: 

  • Have room and would consider hosting a new community nursery 
  • Have the enthusiasm to set up a nursery – but need to find some land 
  • Have the space and the volunteers in place to look after the nursery  

Please get in touch!  We would love to hear from you.  

Funding. 

As we start this journey, we are reliant on donations and grants.  We plan to generate revenue e.g. through tree sales, and in the meantime would love to get your financial support.  We are blessed to have received funding from a wide range of organisations and individuals, and to achieve our aims, we are looking for more support in 2022/23. 

We will be employing a part-time co-ordinator, and would like to be able to employ more people.  We need a vehicle, and ideally would have our own HQ with space for a small office, storage and nursery beds. 

You can support us in so many ways. Please get in touch. 

LET’S GROW! 

Get in touch




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