Woodland Trust interview with Hannah Burgess – Visitor Experience Officer
Hi Hannah lovely to meet you. Can you tell us a bit more about what you do for Tring Park?
My role covers all sorts of jobs across the park, designing leaflets, running events, visiting scouts groups and answering public enquiries. I generally aim to make the park as visitor friendly as possible. The role is different every day!
I think we all agree Tring Park is a pretty special place. What do you think it is that makes it so special?
It’s so special for so many reasons. From a Woodland Trust point of view, it’s a mixture of very rare habitats that we want to preserve. Many people don’t realise that the grassland at Tring Park is a SSSI – that’s a site of special scientific interest. The flowers and butterflies that live on the grassland are increasingly rare, and this along with the views, and the ancient woodland makes it a beautiful place.
Many of us enjoy walking in the Park, but can you tell us more about the different ways the park is used and any other events you have coming up?
On the 30th November we are running a public planting event at Tring Park on the new land – though this is already fully booked. We also have a children’s event called Nature Detectives’ Live, photography workshops and a summer solstice event planned for next year but I don’t have too much detail yet. The planning application for a new car park and welcome area has just gone in – this will give us much more space, step free access and a meeting point.
The public are growingly concerned about protecting our green spaces. What advice would you give people to help protect our wild environments?
Everyone can make small changes that make a big difference. This can be planting a tree (if you are lucky and have a big garden), or sowing a native wildflower mix in your garden. One of our volunteers is fighting for hedgehogs on his street, encouraging everyone to add hedgehog domes and highways to their gardens! All Woodland Trust campaigns need the voices of our supporters, so you can visit our ‘get involved’ page of our website to see how you can help. https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/get-involved/campaign-with-us/
