Abbots Living Wood

Mike Abbott spent most of his childhood playing in the woods around his home near Bristol. After graduating with a degree in combined science, he returned to the countryside with a variety of jobs in amenity horticulture. While attending a course in arboriculture in 1976, Mike discovered Herbert Edlin’s inspiring book Woodland Crafts in Britain. From this he made his first pole-lathe and set about rediscovering the skills that had been all but lost. Two years later he undertook a course in recreation management which included a study of the recreational potential of small woodlands. Here he developed the concept of the ‘Living Wood’; no longer just a haunt for pheasants and wildlife but an environment where people could re-establish their contact with the natural world.