Page 7 - BPW-UK - E-news - Edition 102 - May 2022_Neat

The Growth of McLoughlin’s

As part of a plan for my early retirement, I had
bought a plot of land in a beautiful rural part of County
Antrim in Northern Ireland. The plot had approximately
12 acres and an old farm building on it which was later
replaced by my new home. For the intervening few
years, the land was let to a farmer for grazing his
sheep but my interest in conservation and the environ-
ment grew and I felt I wanted to do something more
with the land as I planted flower beds and a small wild-
flower meadow around the house.

I didn’t actually plant all 6350 trees myself and em-
ployed a local conservation company to do the plant-
ing for me! There are 10 different native species –
oak, alder, beech, birch, hazel, rowan, wild cherry,
field maple, crab apple and scots pine. These have
been planted over the 4.57 hectares with 5-metre-
wide walkways through the ground so I can walk
through the wood and exercise the dog. There will
even be some glades with areas for picnic tables as
the trees grow and develop.

At the minute, the whole area looks like a forest of bamboo canes as these are put
in with each tiny tree to mark them out; already, there are buds and leaves appear-
ing daily and they seem to be growing well. I am commit-
ted to this scheme for 10 years but have already
planted a few more ma- ture fruit trees with the help of
BPW members Ruth Gal- wey and Jeanette Thornton to
add to the variety and produce a crop of apples and
plums.

As the project continues, I hope there will be many opportunities for you to visit and
try out those picnic areas for yourself in the coming months and years.
There will always be a welcome for you in McLoughlin’s Wood.

Jacqui McLoughlin
BPW Northern Ireland