The temperate rainforest
A damp, sheltered corner where mosses, lichens and ferns cover almost everything. Here the care is light: keeping it shaded, damp and undisturbed.
Every child should know what a wood feels like.
We give children proper time in ancient woodland, and protect those woods for generations to come. Bring your class, or help a child get there.
See the wood in
Why the woods matter for children
A day in a wood teaches things that are hard to teach in a classroom.
They light fires, make things, draw and write, get muddy, and find out who lives under a log or why a dead tree is left standing. They learn by doing: every child uses real tools, does real restoration work, and goes home having made something.
A rare chance
Ancient woodland is the UK's richest habitat for wildlife on land, yet it covers only around 2% of the country, and most children never spend proper time in it. Here they get closer to it than most people ever will.
Skills to take home
Why biodiversity matters, the old woodland crafts, how work in the woods has changed over the centuries, and practical skills they keep long after they leave.
Memories that stay
The fire they lit, the den they built, the badger tracks they found: first-hand experiences children can write and talk about back at school.
Confidence
Lighting a fire, crossing a steep bank, finding the way back along a path. Small challenges, taken safely, show children what they're capable of.
Looking after it for the long term
Even a wood that looks wild needs looking after if it's going to last. Knapp Woods is being cared for in five stages, so it's still here for generations to come.
- 1Clearing invasive plants
- 2Managing deer and squirrels
- 3Thinning the holly and bracken
- 4Opening the rides
- 5Planting for the future
Help this grow
Whether you teach, own woodland, or simply care about children growing up with trees, there's a part for you.
A gift to Woods for Children funds a child's place in an ancient wood, and helps hand restored woodland on to the next generation.
DonateKnapp Woods
Eleven acres of mostly ancient woodland on a steep valley side at Widworthy, in the East Devon National Landscape, where our visits take place. It's home to a remarkable variety of wildlife, including some of Britain's rarest bats. People have worked this wood for centuries. After decades left alone, it's being restored, and children see it happen. Explore it here in an immersive, illustrated version, drawn with children in mind.
Knapp Woods. A sketch, not a survey.
1Walk the wood
The circular walk: nine stops, from the cottage to the Perch. Go at your own pace, or start from any stop.
You've walked Knapp Woods
From the cottage through the meadow and the rainforest to the view from the Perch, and home again. It's the walk children take on a visit.
2Watch a year pass
Stay a while. From this month round to the next, see how Knapp Woods changes, or use the arrows to stop on any month.
3Go back in time
Every ring is a chapter in the story of Knapp Woods, from the Domesday Book to today. Tap a ring, or choose a moment, to read it from the centre out.
Sources: Historic England, list entry 1104099; Domesday Book; Pevsner and Cherry, The Buildings of England: Devon; Devon tithe records.
4Watch the wood recover
Even a wood that looks wild needs looking after. Like many woodlands, Knapp Woods was left to itself for decades, and it's now being cared for in five stages: clearing invasive plants, managing deer and squirrels, thinning the holly and bracken, opening the rides, and planting for the future.
Bring your pupils to Knapp Woods
Day visits, designed with teachers, with funded places for the children who'd benefit most.
Visits for schools
A school day at Knapp Woods, our ancient woodland at Widworthy in East Devon, for classes nearby. Children arrive by minibus in the morning, spend the day in the wood, and are back at school for home time.
What children take away
What a class gains from a day at Knapp Woods.
A rare chance
Proper time in ancient woodland, which covers only around 2% of the UK and which few children ever get to know.
Memories that stay
The fire they lit, the den they built, the badger tracks they found: first-hand experiences children can write and talk about back at school.
Confidence
Lighting a fire, crossing a steep bank, finding the way back along a path. Small challenges, taken safely, show children what they're capable of, and they work in small teams throughout the day.
Something to show for it
Every child goes home with something they made in the workshop, and a sketch or a piece of writing from the Perch to take back to class.
What children learn
Every visit draws on six themes, all rooted in the wood itself. Each school chooses what it would like to focus on, and we shape the day around it.
Reading the wood
How to tell an oak from an ash, read a tree's age from its rings, and spot the signs animals leave behind. Children learn how the trees, wildlife and seasons fit together, down to the fungi that link trees underground.
Restoring ancient woodland
Ancient woodland is the UK's richest habitat for wildlife on land, and it locks away carbon for centuries. Children learn how a wood is looked after, what to cut and what to leave, and help with the work themselves.
Woodland skills
Building a den, lighting a fire safely, tying knots, using tools properly and finding the way along a path. Every child gets to try each one, with an adult alongside.
Crafts and work
Charcoal burners, coppice workers and hurdle makers once kept woods like this going. Children try the old crafts, and talk about how work has changed over the centuries and is still changing.
What wood gives us
For thousands of years, wood has built our homes, warmed them, and made our tools, boats and furniture. At Knapp Woods, a 400-year-old cottage still runs on it.
Art, stories and music
Sketching, sculpture from fallen wood, stories at the Perch, and the folklore of the wood, from the Green Man to old beliefs about oak and holly. Woods have inspired Andy Goldsworthy's art, Tarka the Otter, the Hundred Acre Wood and Sibelius's music.
An example day
A typical day, from arrival to home time. Tap a place to see it on the illustrated walk.
- 9.30am
Arrive
The minibus drops the class at the top of the track, where Hetty and Ben meet them. Bags go in the workshop, then everyone gathers at the fire circle to hear how the day will go and how to stay safe in the wood.
- 10am
Walk the wood
The circular walk, through the meadow and past the ancient trees into the temperate rainforest. Children stop, look and ask questions as they go.
The meadowThe ancient and veteran treesThe temperate rainforest
- 11am
Make something
Whittling and building in the workshop, or a den in the wood. Every child goes home having made something with their own hands.
- 12.15pm
Lunch round the fire
Packed lunches at the fire circle, with something warm from the kitchen garden.
- 1pm
Care for the wood
Real restoration work, chosen for the season: pulling Himalayan balsam in summer, stacking cut holly into habitat piles, or coppicing hazel and planting trees in winter.
- 2.15pm
Quiet at the Perch
Looking out across the valley, each child sketches or writes a few lines about the day to take back to class.
- 2.45pm
Head home
Back up the track to the minibus, in time for the end of the school day.
Explore Knapp Woods
To give you a better sense of the place, you can explore an immersive, illustrated version of Knapp Woods here.
Planning your visit
The practical things heads and governors need to know.
When can we visit?
Any time of year, on a normal school day, from about 9.30am to 2.45pm. Day visits are for schools within easy reach of Knapp Woods, one class at a time, and each season shows children a different wood, from bluebells in spring to frost in winter.
Getting here
Knapp Woods is at Widworthy, near Honiton in East Devon, at the end of a narrow rural lane. We put on minibuses for the journey, which drop children at the parking spot at the top of the track, where they're met by Hetty and Ben. From there it's a short walk down into the wood.
Safety and safeguarding
Hetty is our designated safeguarding lead. Everyone who works with children at Knapp Woods holds an enhanced DBS check, every activity is risk assessed, and we're fully insured. A qualified first aider is on site throughout every visit, and we share our safeguarding policy and risk assessments with each school before they come. Read about how we keep children safe.
Staff and ratios
Sessions are led by Hetty and our team, often alongside teachers who bring their own theme. Schools keep responsibility for their pupils and bring their own staff, at least one adult for every eight children, and our team works alongside them.
Food and allergies
Children bring a packed lunch, and we add something warm from the kitchen garden, cooked on the wood-fired Rayburn. We ask for every child's allergies and dietary needs before the visit, prepare anything we serve with them in mind, and keep the kitchen nut-free.
What to bring
Wellies or sturdy boots, a waterproof jacket and trousers, warm layers, and a water bottle. In colder months add a hat and gloves; in summer, a sun hat and sun cream. We send a printable kit list when you book.
Access and additional needs
Knapp Woods is on a steep valley side, with uneven paths. The cottage, kitchen garden and workshop sit close together, and we plan gentler routes and adapted activities for children who need them. Tell us about your pupils' needs and we'll plan the visit around them.
Weather
We go out in most weather: a wood is worth seeing in the rain too, and the workshop is a sheltered base whenever it's needed. We'll only postpone a day visit for strong winds, snow or ice, when the lane or the trees aren't safe. If that happens, we'll let you know the day before and rebook at no cost.
Cost shouldn't decide who comes
We fund places for the children who'd benefit most, working alongside Pupil Premium.
Want to help pay for a child's place? Fund a place.
Privacy notice
How Woods for Children Trust looks after the personal information you share with us. We keep it to what we need, we never sell it, and you can ask us about it at any time.
Last updated October 2026
Who we are
Woods for Children Trust (“we”, “us”) is responsible for the personal information described here. We're based at Knapp Woods, Widworthy, East Devon. The trust is being registered as a charity, and our charity number will appear here once registration is complete.
If you have any questions about your information, email us at hello@woodsforchildren.org.
What we collect, and why
When you get in touch
When you use our contact form or email us, we receive your name and email address, whatever else you choose to tell us, and, if you work in a school, your school, town and the kind of visit you're interested in. We use this to reply to you and, for schools, to plan a visit. We do this because it's in our legitimate interests to answer the people who contact us, and because it's a step towards an agreement you've asked about.
When you tell us about a gift
When you tell us you'd like to give, we receive your name, email address and, if you give it, your phone number, along with the kind of gift, any amount you mention, the name of anyone you're giving in memory of, and your organisation if you're giving on its behalf. We use this to arrange your gift, thank you, and keep a record of it. Where you add Gift Aid, we keep your Gift Aid declaration and donation records because the law requires us to.
When you ask to hear from us
If you ask us to keep you posted, we'll send you occasional news about the trust and Knapp Woods. We only do this with your consent, and you can stop at any time by replying to any email or writing to us.
When a school visits
Before a visit, the school shares the lead teacher's contact details and the information we need to keep its pupils safe and well: first names, dietary needs and allergies, medical needs, additional needs, and how to reach the school in an emergency. The school remains responsible for its pupils' information, and we use it only to run that visit.
Some of this is health information, so we treat it with extra care. Only the people running the visit can see it, and we delete it within a month of the visit, unless an incident means we have to keep a record.
Photographs and stories
We only take photographs of children with the school's agreement, which reflects the consent of their parents and carers. We never publish a child's full name, and we don't photograph any child whose family hasn't agreed. If you'd like a photograph removed from our website or social media, tell us and we'll take it down.
Safeguarding
If we ever have a concern about a child's safety, we record it and share it only with the people who need to know, such as the child's school, the local authority or the police, as the law and safeguarding guidance require. You can read more on our safeguarding page.
Who we share it with
We never sell or swap your information. We share it only with:
- the services that help us run this website and our email: Cloudflare, which hosts the site and forwards our email; FormSubmit, which delivers messages from our website forms to our inbox; and our email provider;
- HM Revenue & Customs, when we claim Gift Aid on your donation;
- the authorities, when the law requires it or to protect a child.
Some of these services may store information outside the UK. Where they do, UK data protection law requires safeguards to be in place so your information is protected to the same standard.
How long we keep it
- Messages and enquiries: up to two years after we were last in touch.
- Gift and Gift Aid records: six years after the end of the financial year they relate to, as HMRC requires.
- Pupils' visit information: deleted within a month of the visit.
- Our news list: until you ask us to stop.
- Safeguarding records: as long as the law and safeguarding guidance require.
Cookies and this website
We don't use cookies, advertising or tracking. If you switch between the light and dark versions of the site, your browser remembers your choice on your own device, and that information never reaches us. If we count visits to the site, we use Cloudflare's privacy-friendly statistics, which don't use cookies or follow you around the web.
Your rights
You can ask us for a copy of the information we hold about you, ask us to correct or delete it, ask us to stop using it or to limit how we use it, and withdraw your consent where we rely on it. Email hello@woodsforchildren.org and we'll reply within one month.
If you're unhappy with how we've handled your information, please tell us first so we can put it right. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.
Changes to this notice
We'll update this notice if the way we use information changes, and the date at the top will show when it last changed.
Safeguarding
Children's safety and wellbeing come before everything else at Knapp Woods. This page sets out how we keep children safe. Schools can ask for our full safeguarding policy and risk assessments at any time.
Last reviewed October 2026
Our commitment
Every child who comes to Knapp Woods deserves to be safe, respected and able to take part, whatever their background, needs or abilities. We take every concern seriously and act on it quickly. For us, anyone under 18 is a child.
Our policy follows the government's statutory guidance, Working Together to Safeguard Children and Keeping Children Safe in Education, and the procedures of the Devon Children and Families Partnership.
Who is responsible
Hetty Henley is our Designated Safeguarding Lead. A named trustee oversees safeguarding for the board. The trustees review our policy every year, and sooner if the law or guidance changes, or if anything happens that we need to learn from.
During a visit
- The school's own staff stay responsible for their pupils throughout, with at least one adult for every eight children, and our team works alongside them.
- Everyone who works with children at Knapp Woods has an enhanced DBS check and safeguarding training, refreshed regularly.
- No one from our team is ever alone with a child, out of sight of others.
- Toilets and any changing areas are for children and their own school staff only.
- Anyone else at Knapp Woods during a visit is expected, signed in and accompanied.
- Every activity, the wood itself and the weather are risk assessed, and we share our risk assessments with each school before they come.
- A qualified first aider is on site throughout every visit.
- Children travel in minibuses we arrange, with their own school staff on board.
Photographs and contact
- We only photograph children with their school's agreement, only on the trust's own devices, and never in toilets or changing areas.
- We never publish a child's full name.
- Our team never contacts children directly, by phone, message or social media, and doesn't accept friend or follow requests from them.
If a child tells us something
Whoever a child talks to will stay calm, listen, take them seriously and reassure them they were right to speak. We won't promise to keep a secret, and we won't ask leading questions. We write down the child's own words straight away and tell the Designated Safeguarding Lead, who informs the lead teacher and, where needed, makes a referral to children's social care, the Local Authority Designated Officer or the police.
Concerns about an adult
Any concern about the behaviour of an adult, whether a member of our team, a volunteer or a visitor, goes straight to the Designated Safeguarding Lead. If the concern involves her, it goes to our safeguarding trustee. Allegations against anyone working with children are referred to the Local Authority Designated Officer.
Safer recruitment
Everyone who works or volunteers with children for the trust is checked before they start, with references, identity checks and an enhanced DBS check, and reads and signs our safeguarding policy. Anyone barred from working with children can't work with us in any role.
Restoring Knapp Woods
Knapp Woods looks beautiful, and wild. But even a wood that looks wild needs looking after if it's going to last. Here's how we're caring for it, stage by stage, so it's still here for generations to come.
A wood is never wild
It's easy to think the best thing for a wood is to leave it alone, especially one as beautiful as this. But Britain's woods have been shaped by people for thousands of years: cut, coppiced, grazed and worked.
Knapp Woods is no different: its old quarry, banks and tracks are the marks of centuries of work. Like many woodlands, it has since been left to itself for decades. It still looks lovely, but look a little closer and holly and bracken are spreading, invasive plants are moving in, and fewer young trees are coming through. Left as it is, it wouldn't last.
Custodians, not owners
Looking after a wood means deciding, season by season, what to cut and what to leave. We cut back what crowds out other life, like holly, bracken and invasive plants, and leave old trees, dead wood and wild corners alone, so the wood is in better health when we hand it on.
What we're doing for wildlife
An ancient wood in good health supports more life than almost anywhere else in the country. These ten things, together, give that life room to come back.
Clearing invasive plants
Bracken, rhododendron and Himalayan balsam smother the woodland floor and crowd out native plants.
Managing deer and squirrels
Roe deer browse young trees and grey squirrels strip their bark. Keeping both in check, and fencing out neighbouring sheep and cattle, gives the next generation of trees a chance.
Thinning the holly
Dense holly blocks the light. We take out around three-quarters of it and keep the rest for shelter and winter berries. More light means more ground flora, from bluebells to young trees.
Coppicing the hazel
Cutting hazel to the ground a patch at a time, as woods like this were worked for centuries. It regrows from the stump, and the mix of young and older growth suits butterflies, birds and, one day perhaps, dormice.
Protecting veteran trees
Giving the oldest trees space and light, and leaving their hollows and dead wood for the wildlife that needs them.
Making room for bats
Bechstein's bats, among the rarest in Britain, have been tracked to Knapp Woods, and a large nursery box put up for them still hangs on one of the old oaks. We keep it, the other bat boxes, and the hollow old trees bats roost in.
Opening the rides
Wide, sunny paths through the wood, with small glades cut along their edges: some of the richest places for flowers, butterflies and insects. Where branches meet overhead, we leave them, so animals can still cross from tree to tree.
A wildflower meadow
Our meadow is lowland meadow, a priority habitat that has become rare across Britain. Its flowers feed bees, butterflies and the insects that birds and bats eat.
Planting trees
A wider mix of trees, chosen to suit the site, brings more variety, and more variety means more life.
Caring for each part differently
The temperate rainforest, the meadow, the rides and the old trees each need something different.
All of this is paid for by gifts. Help restore ancient woodland
One wood, many habitats
Knapp Woods isn't one place but several, and each part is looked after in its own way.
The ancient and veteran trees
The oldest trees get space and light around them, and their hollows and dead branches stay, because they're homes.
The holly and the fallen trees
Where the holly was thickest, it's being thinned to let light back in, keeping about a quarter of it. Fallen trees and cut branches are left to rot for the life they hold.
The meadow and the rides
Open, sunny ground, cut at the right time of year so wildflowers can set seed and insects can thrive.
Children are part of it
On every visit, children help: clearing bracken, pulling balsam, stacking cut holly into habitat piles, coppicing hazel, planting trees, and noticing what returns from one visit to the next.
The restoration will take decades. The children who help with it now will be the ones who see it finished.
About the trust
What we do, why it matters, and the people behind it.
Founded at Knapp Woods
Woods for Children was founded by Ben and Hetty, who live at Knapp Cottage with their family, surrounded by eleven acres of mostly ancient woodland.
Hetty is a gardener and garden designer in East Devon. She began her career alongside Scott Melville and the award-winning landscape designer Sarah Eberle, and now works with the garden designer Butter Wakefield. Through her newsletter, Still Growing, and on Instagram, she writes about what gardens teach us, for thousands of readers. You can find her at hettyhenley.com and @hettyhenley.
Ben is the co-founder and CEO of cord, the UK's largest job search for people in tech. At home, he leads the restoration of the wood: cutting back holly, opening up paths, and caring for its oldest trees with professional advice.
Bringing an ancient wood back to life showed them how much it has to give, and that a place this special shouldn't belong to one family. Woods for Children is their answer to a simple question: what is this wood for?
I want Nell to grow up proud that we did something to protect nature. Looking after this ancient wood is our way of making a difference. It holds carbon, and it's home to so much wildlife. I hope that when she's older, she'll be proud of what we did here.
Ben & Hetty Founders
What we believe
Children learn most from a wood by doing real things in it: lighting fires, using tools, and helping to restore it.
Britain's woods have been shaped by people for thousands of years, and most need looking after to stay healthy. We step in where it helps, leave nature alone where it does better, and aim to hand Knapp Woods on in better health than we found it.
See how we're restoring Knapp Woods
Our model follows Farms for City Children, started by Michael and Clare Morpurgo in 1976 on the Devon farm where they lived.
How the trust is run
Woods for Children is being established as a charitable trust, overseen by a board of trustees alongside its founders.
The trustees make sure every gift is spent on what the trust exists for, places for children and woods to hand on, and that we report openly on where it goes. Hetty is the trust's designated safeguarding lead.
A childhood with woods in it
Your gift funds a child's place in an ancient wood, and helps hand restored woodland on to the next generation.
Why this matters now
A generation ago, around half of children played regularly in wild places. Today, fewer than one in ten do.
Ancient woodland is the UK's richest habitat for wildlife on land, yet it now covers only around 2% of the country. Once it's lost, it can't be replaced.
Woods for Children exists to bring children into ancient woods, and to make sure those woods are still here for their children, and for generations to come.
Sources: National Trust, Natural Childhood (2012); Woodland Trust.
Where your money goes
Everything we raise goes to two things: places for children, and woods for the generations to come.
Fund a place
So cost never decides which children come. A funded place covers the visit itself, food from the kitchen garden, and the people who look after children while they're at Knapp Woods.
Woods to hand on
Ancient woodland can't be replaced once it's lost. We secure ancient woods that need a long-term future, open them to children, and restore them slowly and carefully, so the next generation inherits woods richer than the ones we found.
Ways to give
Make a donation
A gift of any size helps a child spend proper time in a wood. Tell us what you'd like to give, and we'll be in touch to arrange it.
Make a donationA significant gift
A larger gift could fund every place for a school's year group, or help secure an ancient wood that children can explore now, restored for generations to come. We'd love to talk it through, and to walk Knapp Woods with you if you'd like to see it for yourself.
Start a conversationIn memory
Remember someone you love with a day in the wood for children, given in their name. A larger gift can secure an entire wood in their memory.
About gifts in memoryA gift in your will
Woods outlive all of us. A gift in your will can hand an ancient wood on to children not yet born.
About gifts in willsGiving through a charitable trust, foundation or company? Get in touch and we'll send you everything you need.
Remembered in the woods
A gift in memory turns grief into something living: children in a wood, in the name of someone you love.
- A day in their nameYour gift funds a day at Knapp Woods for a class of children, given in their memory. Afterwards, we'll tell you about the day: where the children walked, what they made and what they found.
- A wood in their nameA larger gift can secure an entire ancient wood in their memory: a place children explore today, restored for the generations who will walk in it long after us.
Hand on a wood
A gift in your will is one of the most lasting things you can do. It can give children not yet born the chance to know an ancient wood.
- Free of inheritance taxGifts to charity in a will are free of inheritance tax. If you leave 10% or more of your estate to charity, the rate on the rest can fall from 40% to 36%. Your solicitor can advise on your circumstances.
- Any kind of giftA share of what's left once loved ones are provided for, a fixed sum, or a particular item. Every kind of gift helps.
- In confidenceYou don't have to tell us. If you do, we can thank you, and give you our full details for your solicitor.
Tell us about your gift
We'll be in touch to arrange your gift with you, and to make sure it goes exactly where it's needed.
Every conversation about a gift is private, and you can give anonymously if you'd prefer.
Our promise to you
- We'll say where it wentWe'll report what your gift paid for: places funded, and woods secured, opened to children and restored.
- We'll spend it on what mattersEvery pound goes to places for children and woods to hand on.
- We'll treat it personallyEvery gift is arranged with you directly, and every conversation stays private.
How do I make my gift?
Tell us about it using the form, and we'll be in touch to arrange it with you directly.
Can I add Gift Aid?
If you're a UK taxpayer, Gift Aid adds 25p to every £1 you give, at no cost to you. We'll take care of the paperwork when we arrange your gift.
Can I visit before I give?
Yes. We'd love to walk Knapp Woods with you. Mention it in the form and we'll find a time.
What happens with a gift in memory?
Your gift funds a day in the wood for a class of children in your loved one's name, and we'll tell you about the day afterwards. If your gift is large enough, it can help secure an entire wood in their memory. We'll talk it through with you.
Can I give anonymously?
Of course. Let us know, and your name will never be published.
Is a gift in my will free of inheritance tax?
Gifts to charity in a will are free of inheritance tax, and leaving 10% or more of your estate to charity can reduce the rate on the rest. Your solicitor can advise on your own circumstances.
Get involved
Teachers, woodland owners, people who'd like to help, or anyone who'd simply like to follow along. We read every message ourselves.
What happens next
Choose what fits you, add your name and email, and press send. It takes about a minute.
Ben and Hetty read every message and reply themselves. If you work in a school, we'll be in touch to talk about a founding place and arrange a time for you to walk the wood with us.
Other ways to help
Fundraise for us
Run, walk, bake or swim. A sponsored challenge or a cake sale at school can fund a child's day at Knapp Woods.
Tell us your ideaPartner with us
Businesses can fund places for a whole class, help secure ancient woodland for children, or give their teams a day of woodland work.
Talk to us about partneringHelp us secure a wood
If you own woodland, or know of a wood that needs a long-term future, we'd like to hear from you.
Tell us about a woodGive your time or skills
Woodland work, cooking, teaching, design, accounts: if you have a skill and some time, there's a way to use it.
Offer your helpSpread the word
Tell a teacher, a head or a parent. Every school that gets in touch helps more children reach the woods.
Share visits for schools