It’s no holiday for Peter as woodland business takes off

Friday 27 January 2012

Peter Bottoms once earned his living in Ceredigion’s tourism industry, but now he’s carving out another life far from the madding crowd after buying a forest in mid-Wales.

The one-time owner of Aberaeron’s aquarium and commercial shell fisherman, also offering boat trips to see the dolphins, sold up five years ago and began looking for woodland with the potential to develop into a forestry business.

The search ended 18 months later when he bought Esgair forest, a 245 hectare estate – 200 hectares being commercial woodland – nestled between two Welsh Government woodlands near Pantperthog, three miles north of Machynlleth.

“With fossil fuels becoming increasingly expensive and finite in the long term, and with the adverse impacts of CO2 emissions and climate change, I believe sustainable forestry, timber and woodfuel production has a good future.

“We wanted to build a new business which could sustain our children after we’ve gone,” said Peter, whose wife, Sarah, was also involved in the tourism industry for 32 years as the previous owner of the town’s seafront restaurant, The Hive on the Quay, but is now valuably involved at Esgair.

“The forest was in a pretty poor state when I bought it four years ago, but I could see the potential. I see this as a good business opportunity.”

The Welsh Assembly Government helped to kick-start Peter’s vision of transforming the forest into a vibrant business, through the Harvesting and Marketing Grant scheme, enabling him to put in a new access road to the forest, build a sawmill and install production equipment and basic facilities such as water and a telephone line.

A grant from the Forestry Commission Wales Better Woodlands for Wales (BWW) scheme is helping him to return the woodland to proper management, and he has already turned the estate into the UK’s first organic forest.

“Esgair has a sustainable crop of about 2,000 tons a year in total and there will be no waste at all – in fact, we do take other local people’s slab wood waste,” said Peter, who was a timber haulier for the Forestry Commission way back in the 1970s.

“We are building a sustainable business and only sell to customers within a 40-mile radius, so that we reduce traffic on the roads, cut down on the unnecessary transport of round timber over long distances and keep the money circulating locally.”

The Esgair Timber Company sells quality timber products, from large beams for the construction industry, to its own graded timber products, G30 grade wood chips, dry logs and briquettes to heat business premises and people’s homes.

“We tend to work in the oversize market, up to 900mm diameter logs 9.5 metres long, and most of our products are bespoke orders,” said Peter, who still lives in Aberaeron.

“The smaller diameter material goes into firewood with other waste from the sawmill and tree harvesting being seasoned, chipped and sold as woodfuel. But, whatever we do, the emphasis is always on producing top quality material.”

At the heart of the business is a massive, 50 metre long by 20 metre clear span timber sawmill building, built from mature trees grown within 100 metres of the site, where all the homegrown timber is processed.

There are also plans to build a combined heat and power (CHP) plant, which will provide lighting and heating for the business using chips from its own waste timber, naturally.

Peter Jones, Forestry Commission Wales Woodland Officer in the Grants and Regulation team, said, “Peter is determined to build a truly sustainable business that will be a lasting legacy for his children, and serve the local area with sustainable timber and fuel products.

“The local focus of his business and using wood for energy in place of fossil fuels will help to tackle climate change by reducing CO2 emissions, and we’re delighted the BWW grant will help him to realise his goals.”

Already, Esgair provides employment for three people, with the prospect of more jobs when the business is up to full production this year.

“I’m normally there myself every day, as well. If I wasn’t doing this, I’d be bored,” said Peter Bottoms.

“It’s fascinating to see what the real possibilities are with such a sustainable, versatile material as wood.”

The BWW grant scheme has now closed to new applications and has been replaced by a new woodland management grant under Glastir, the Welsh Government’s new sustainable land management scheme.

For more information on grants available for planting new woodland, ring 0300 068 0300 and ask for the Forestry Commission Wales Glastir woodland team, e-mail bww.ts@forestry.gsi.gov.uk or look online at www.forestry.gov.uk/glastirwoodland.