New Woodfuel Boiler!

The Read-Out

Smiles seeing the machine start first-time!

On the 25th of April our woodfuel boiler kicked into action, and the office has never been warmer! Fed on a lean diet of chipped wood waste, the boiler is currently providing heat to three large buildings incuding the main office block and our Orchard Barn. The intention is to heat more buildings in the future. This is a terrific addition to Nicholsons, lowering our carbon emmissions, saving on the use of oil, and complementing the photovoltaic panels installed last year.

Cleft chestnut post and rail fencing

The Nicholsons Forestry team have recently completed erecting 250m of cleft chestnut post and rail fencing for a client in Warwickshire, under the instruction of garden designer James Alexander-Sinclair.  The fence is to separate the wider garden of the property from adjoining grazing land, whilst maintaining views from the house to a newly constructed lake and across the Warwickshire countryside beyond.

The posts and rails were sourced from near Midhurst in West Sussex - the chestnut was felled during the winter and processed into the morticed posts and rails 'in the wood'.  The team worked hard and completed the work in just over a week, including attaching rabbit netting along the entire length.

We hope to back on site in the autumn to plant some more specimen trees between the house and the fence to create a 'parkland setting' for the house.

Nicholsons at Chelsea

Nicholsons began building a garden for David Harber at Chelsea this week, on Main Avenue alongside some of the larger show gardens. Progress is being hampered by the rain but the paving is going down and the garden is taking shape. The plants are looking more lush each day and will be going down to Chelsea next week. We are planting the trees and hedges early next week and our clients David Harber will be installing their sculptures from Wednesday onwards. Let’s hope for better weather next week at least until the pergola has a roof on!

harvesting on a steep slope

We are currently harvesting about 800 tonnes of coniferous  timber on a very steep slope  near Chipping Norton. The woodland has been affected by red band needle blight and  once it has been cleared , the site will be replanted with broadleaves. Our men are wearing crampons to keep themselves upright!

special harvesting equipment has been brought in to deal with the conditions. In effect this is a type of 'highlead ' system based on a 360 excavator and winch system, more commonly found on Wesh hillsides.

Herbaceous update

A quick update on the blog from 2 Feb. Our Herbaceous Perennials have grown up and are selling fast. Try and get to the nursery soon while our own grown stocks last  - they are fresh and ready to plant. We are still open on Saturdays through May from 9-12 so pop in and our helpful staff will be delighted to show you round and offer advice should you need it.

Harvesting near Banbury

 We are just completing a 1200 tonne harvesting contract  within  just 500 metres of the edge of Banbury. The work has involved felling and thinning coniferous woodland. This autumn we will be planting around 3000 native broadleaved trees to replace the area felled.

Moving big trees

The Nicholsons Forestry team have recently completed a project to plant a number of very large specimen trees in the garden of an Oxfordshire property under the instruction of garden designer James Alexander-Sinclair.  The trees were delivered with root systems of up to 600 litres and could only be moved using some fairly large machinery.

In addition we had to plant an olive tree that weighed in at 1750kg in the centre of the sunken patio next to the swimming pool.  The tree had to be lifted over the wall into the pool area using a crane, and the crane was operating at its maximum safe lifting limit in order to swing the tree round without going over the top of the swimming pool (and its expensive solar cover).

We completed the work without any hitches (phew!).

Nicholsons Arb Team in Action

The Nicholsons Arb Team were recently asked to fell two large and over-mature poplars in the garden of one of our clients, and we managed to get a short video of one of the trees as it went down.

The operation went very smoothly, overseen by Fennel the Forestry Dept labrador.

We have now planted more than 70 specimen trees in the garden, as well as more than 300m of 'instant hedge' (a mixture of beech and native mix), so the removal of these two poplars has, we think, already been compensated for!

The Nicholsons Landscapes team are also working in the same garden.

Nicholsons Win Large Business of the Year for Cherwell

AT the Cherwell Business of the Year awards Ceremony on Friday 30th March we are delighted to say that NICHOLSONS won their category and became the winner of the Large Business of the Year 2012.

Along with the directors, 6 members of staff (chosen by the team)joined in the evening at the John Paul Centre on Bicester, which was a fantastic evening and our thanks go to Spratt Endicott for sponsoring our category and all the organisers and other sponsors.

The award is a fantastic achievement for the company and is a true accolade of the team spirit that the company stands for. Well done everybody!

Celebrating the Diamond Jubilee with Tree Planting

On a perfect spring day, two local school groups were treated by the Woodland Trust to a session of tree planting to mark the Queens Diamond Jubilee. As far as we could see they all seemed to be having a lot of fun! A big 'THANK YOU' to Bishop Lovedayand Dr Radcliffe's Primary C of E schools for all your help. The trees sit alongside a local footpath to the west of Swerford, and so everyone involved should be able to re-visit over the coming years and see them grow.