Chatton woman carving a growing reputation in forestry circles

Nathalie Petronelli-Stone, who owns and runs Northumbria Forestry with her husband Kezz from their off grid house, has been in business 14 years.

The couple were featured in Ben Fogle’s New Lives In The Wild last year.

Nathalie said: “After the storms so many people said to me it must be really good for business, but it's really not like that.

"There's been so much devastation which is terribly sad to see, but also the volume of timber that's become available has meant it can be very hard to get it shifted to the mills which are all full, and because of that the price has dropped dramatically.”

But Nathalie, who says she has always put the environment first, does things a little differently.

"I manage the woods on quite a few estates and farms around my area,” she explained. “Some require hand cutters using chainsaws, and smaller forestry equipped tractors and forwarding trailers, others require harvesters and larger machines.

"So I oversee all that, arranging woodland plans, felling licences, finding the best contractors and appropriate machines, selling the timber, having it collected and delivered and dealing with the payments. But I'm actually happiest with a chainsaw in my hands getting stuck in on the sites."

She added: “One thing I'm doing with a lot of my sites is leaving a lot of the trees that are blown, but still alive. They are often worth far more as habitat and seed stock for future trees than they are in hard cash.

"It can look a bit messy in the winter but from spring onwards they green up again and look far nicer than lifeless clearfell sites. You have to remember these are woodlands not gardens, and they are home to all sorts of other creatures.”

Kezz, who had taken a back seat this year to focus on his musical work, is now concentrating on finishing the timber and straw bale house they've self built.

He will be giving a talk at Chatton village hall on Thursday night about building their house, living off grid, and being more self reliant in life. Doors open 7pm, free.