If you happen to be walking in Birkett wood at Brockhole, you may find yourself wondering down a set of rustic, natural stairs. These stairs were created by the Earnest Cook Trust trainees that come to Brockhole as part of their Land Management course. To promote the idea of sustainability, a lot of the materials used were taken from the fallen trees that came down in the 2021 Storm Arwen.
Humans, much like the wildlife around us, often look for the easiest ways to get to places. This means, we tend to follow well-trodden paths, creating something called ‘desire lines’ - it makes sense, it’s the easiest way! But, when you get extraordinary numbers of people, say close to 300,000, as Brockhole does, desire lines can lead to excessive erosion. Which was the case on this path. This is why we created the steps to make it easier for people to get up into Birkett wood whilst reducing the impact of erosion.
Natural steps made from fallen debris leading up into Birkett Wood.
