Today, the AA’s management of the Hooke Park woodland has several priorities. Most importantly, we are the custodians of an ancient forest with the responsibility to deliver Hooke Park to future generations in a robust and healthy state. We need to produce timber, both for our own architectural and educational needs and to sell into the wider external market; we also want to strengthen Hooke Park’s position as an ecological resource and a valuable part of the Dorset landscape.

The forest here contains an increasingly diverse mixture of tree species, and alongside and within these plantations are a rich variety of woodland landscapes including recently felled clearings, hidden river valleys, an ancient willow coppice and broadleaf groves of ash, hazel, alder and poplar. A network of paths and tracks radiate through the forest and are open throughout the year for visitors to explore.

As the beech and Norway spruce reach maturity, we are transforming Hooke Park’s forest to cope with the needs of future timber markets, climatic conditions, opportunities and threats. While many factors that will affect the future forest are as yet unknown, we must do our best to ensure that the trees we plant to replace harvested timber will be able to survive a changing climate, as well as new pests, diseases and environmental threats. As we harvest maturing crops, we will replant with a mixture of conifer and broadleaf species that will provide a good mix of strong, durable timber to meet construction needs and increase the ecological diversity of the forest. A more diverse age structure in the forest will provide both a steady annual flow of timber and resilience against storms.