I am Carolyn, woodland-dweller and mother of twins. I’ve been managing Comar Wood since husband Jamie and I bought it in 2017. After couple of years I decided to start a blog because I wanted to share my passion for woodlands: for the trees, plants, fungi, soil and all the creatures that reside in these places – and for forestry: for the art of manipulating these environments to produce useful materials. I aim to write about my experiences of managing Comar Wood to share successes and failures, and to write pieces about all sorts of topics to do with woodland and forestry that are of interest to me (and hopefully you).
Here’s a bit more about me:
I have always felt happiest when outdoors, hearing the sounds of nature. After starting my working life as a fluvial geomorphologist – specialising in river restoration and management, I began to realise how much I enjoyed being in woodlands and I became increasingly interested in woodland management. I was finding my job too office-based and craved outdoor, physical, practical work.
I got my chainsaw ticket and volunteered in various woodlands to gain experience. Eventually I started to find paid cutting and tree planting work, which I did alongside the rivers job. After spending a few years learning about woodlands through practical experience and lots of reading, Jamie and I started looking for a suitable woodland to buy. We found Comar Wood back in 2017 and built our house here in 2019/2020, before our twins were born that November.
I now split my time between working in the woodland here and doing paid chainsaw and tree-planting work, as well as looking after my children, tending my veg garden and (when I get a chance) biking and hiking in the local glens and mountains.
