Echo Wood
Planted this winter, the native trees will grow over time into a vast 110-metre-wide design. Blossoming at different times of year, pathways and avenues will be created to guide visitors on a journey through the forest towards a central circular gathering space for events and educational activities, formed from 12 English oak trees. Echo Wood will take a century to fully emerge – but will endure for generations.
Echo Wood is also an opportunity to take action.
Find out below how you can become part of the Echo Wood story.
The Vision - Lower Chew Forest
This living sculpture is part of Lower Chew Forest, a bold new project creating 422 acres of new woodland, orchard, wetlands and nature-rich habitats between the villages of Compton Dando and Hunstrete, Somerset.
“It’s amazing to have the opportunity to create an artwork that will take decades to fully form, but will last for hundreds of years and bring joy to generations of visitors.” — Luke Jerram
The trees planted for the artwork will grow alongside an expansive and beautiful new forest, providing refuge for wildlife and stand as a powerful symbol in the fight against climate change.
As part of our healthy woodland management process, we will use ancient techniques such as pollarding and coppicing to extend the life of the trees. When we do, the wood we remove from the living trees of Echo Wood will be used for educational and creative projects. In many years time, as the trees age, mature and possibly reach the end of their natural lives, they will be replanted to continue the cycle of growth and rebirth.
Working with schools and the local community we hope this artwork will inspire the next generation of people to care about the environment and the planet. We hope Echo Wood will be a legacy for everyone involved
Why do we need projects like this?
The West of England is one of the most nature-depleted areas of the UK, which itself is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world. We are a nation of nature lovers and yet we are facing severe biodiversity loss impacting our wildlife and beautiful green spaces.
The effects of climate change in the Chew Valley are felt most acutely in regular severe flooding, severely impacting the day to day lives of people and businesses across the area.
Lower Chew Forest will offer a solution to many of these challenges, providing natural flood protection and improving water quality. It will be a place where nature will recover and thrive. For people, it will be a place to enjoy, to reflect and learn.
Be part of the artwork - create a living legacy
Echo Wood is also a vital opportunity for action.
The winter of 2025/6 is the last major planting season at Lower Chew Forest. We have a target of 70,000 trees to go in the ground, our biggest planting season ever. Projects like this require a huge amount of resources and work to establish.
In order to complete planting at Lower Chew Forest, we need to raise a final £250,000 this winter. This will enable us to buy all the elements required for planting - equipment, stakes, mulch matts, not to mention the trees themselves!
Sponsoring a tree as part of Echo Wood, is an opportunity to be part of a historic artwork, joining a community to create a living legacy. But in doing so you will also be taking tangible and immediate action on nature loss and climate change, enabling a project that will benefit local communities for generations to come.
About Echo Wood
The initial idea of Echo Wood came about when Luke Jerram read about Avon Needs Trees’ plans to create the South West largest new woodland in a generation, Lower Chew Forest.
Luke was intrigued by the idea of a work of art that would develop and evolve over a remarkably long time period, potentially across many generations. His initial inspiration for the design came from the circles that naturally appear in nature at every scale, from the orbits of the planets, ripples in a pond, right down to the shape of the human iris. There was the possibility of converging walkways and a meeting space at the centre, a place to reflect and learn, to come together to meet and celebrate.
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