Westonbirt, the National Arboretum

There is evidence of coppicing at the site from 1292. First use of the name "" was in 1309. This was taken from Weston, a settlement to the west of Bowldown Road, and Birt from then lords of the manor, the Bret family. The arboretum was established in 1829 by Robert Stayner Holford and was later extended by his son George Lindsay Holford. After the death of George in 1926, ownership of the arboretum passed to his nephew, Edmund Parker, 4th Earl of Morley, and eventually to the Forestry Commission in 1956 and Forestry England in 2019. The Holford family's mansion, Westonbirt House, became a girls' boarding school in 1927 when it was separated from the arboretum. Westonbirt Arboretum backs…

, a critically endangered species of tree, at Westonbirt|alt=]] Westonbirt Arboretum comprises approximately 15,000 trees and shrubs, with 2,500 species of tree from all over the world, covering an area of approximately . Its 17 miles (27 km) of marked paths provide access to a wide variety of rare plants. There are two main areas in the arboretum . The Old Arboretum is a carefully designed landscape with several avenues, and a number of rare and exotic trees from across the globe dating back to the 1850s. Silk Wood is a different experience: although it also contains some exotic plantings, at its centre is a traditional working woodland, dating back to the 13th century. Dogs are welcome in…