Bridgewood Middle Ride

In the first year, I've been establishing woodland tracks called "rides" which are wide enough to be open to the sky. In the past, a ride was a track open enough to be ridden on horseback, but now they're good forestry practice as they let sunlight in to dry them out, can be grassed over, and their edges promote wildlife. The Middle Ride is the longest, running from the entrance diagonally to the north east corner, and it's the one that's received the most attention since it passes through the Glade at centre of the wood.

These pictures show what the route of the Middle Ride was like not long after it was marked out. In the left hand picture you can see two of the green-topped marker canes used to lay the route out. In both pictures, some of the shrubs blocking the way have already been cut down to ground level, and you can see where the undergrowth is starting to be trodden down.

To be properly open even when the trees are in leaf requires cutting trees and shrubs back themselves, as shown in the left hand picture, where hazel trees have been cut down to let in more light. You can also see a short YouTube video of the Glade and south east Middle Ride, which shows this stretch near completion. Before this point though, some of the stretches could be cleared at ground level by raking out the undergrowth, such as the part of the ride to the north east of the Glade shown in the right hand picture.

Widening the ride also requires cutting down full size trees ("standards") in some places, and the picture shows one immediately after felling. I made a video for YouTube of this tree coming down.