Why people rally around a rainforest – in England

Stepping across the threshold, it is as though you’re entering another world. 

Beneath the canopy of great oak trees, different from those you might normally find in an English woodland, ferns unfurl their fronds amid a smattering of wildflowers. A brook murmurs across well-worn rocks. Time seems to slow, and you could be forgiven for imagining you’ve awoken in a scene from The Lord of the Rings.

In fact, these temperate rainforests were a deep source of inspiration for author J.R.R. Tolkien, among others. But it is only recently that their significance has started to gain wide recognition, and efforts are now afoot to save what slivers remain, not only here in the United Kingdom, but in all parts of the world where they still exist.