CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: Hello and welcome to Nature Fix with me,

Claire Hickinbotham.

Every month we take you with us to meet the people whose lives

have been changed by the outdoors and join them in a

place that inspires them.

Today I'm leaving you deep in the forest with host Jo Dyson,

who's joining explorer, TV presenter and writer Levison

Wood.

Levison's taking us on a walk to an Iron Age hill fort through

one of the UK's remaining ancient temperate rainforests in

Dartmoor.

We'll be uncovering the folklore, secret histories and

stories of trees and we'll find out why you should allow

yourself to get lost in the woods.

JO DYSON: Being around trees always makes you feel better and

today I'm at Hembury and Holne Woods on Dartmoor National Park

in Devon.

Dartmoor's home to some of the UK's rare ancient forests. These

trees have stories to tell. We'll be hiking up above the

tree canopies to take in a panoramic viewpoint. And to do

that, I'm meeting Levison Wood.

LEVISON WOOD: Hey Jo, how are you doing?

JO DYSON: Oh Lev, good to see you.

LEVISON WOOD: Likewise.

JO DYSON: So this is your new neighbourhood. You've moved to

Devon.

LEVISON WOOD: I have. I've just moved to Devon and it's a

beautiful summer to spend in the countryside and I thought i'd

come exploring so my first time here in Holne woods.

JO DYSON: So you don't know where we're going exactly?

LEVISON WOOD: I've got no idea to say let's go and get lost in

the woods shall we?

JO DYSON: Love that!

Okay Lev, I think it's up and over this style.

LEVISON WOOD: Do my best

JO DYSON: Here's another wooden sign. Which way? Okay, fort,

right, so still up?

LEVISON WOOD: Still going up, we're in the right direction.

JO DYSON: What are these trees with the really tall tree trunks

and the canopy at the top?

LEVISON WOOD: Yeah, these are all oak. Very tall though, these

ones, aren't they?

JO DYSON: Think of oak trees as very sort of big, deep canopies,

whereas these seem to me something that you'd see in

rainforests because there's so much trunk and bark.

LEVISON WOOD: Well, don't forget this is actually a rainforest,

believe it or not.

JO DYSON: Is it?!

LEVISON WOOD: This is a temperate rainforest. Yeah, a

lot of Devon, Cornwall, parts of Wales. This was all part of

Britain's ancient rainforest. You know, those coastal currents

that came off the Atlantic provided a lot of rain. I can

vouch for the fact that it rains a lot here in Devon.

It feels like a rainforest.

JO DYSON: And look how the light falls through amongst the leaves

at the top of the canopy.

LEVISON WOOD: And the ivy as well, and the moss and lichen,

and these little vines coming down. We don't normally

associate rainforests with the UK, but we do have them. This is

part of an ancient ecosystem.

Some of these trees are probably in excess of 400 or 500 years

old. For hundreds of years, these ones we know, this area

has been pretty intact since the year 1600. So that's why the

trees are so tall and big and healthy, because it's a very

natural, wild area.

JO DYSON: So, Levison, I know you went to University Of

Nottingham and read history there, but then you chose to

join the military. What brought you to that decision?

LEVISON WOOD: Well, you know, I was always drawn to this idea of

adventure, but it was probably my grandfather and my dad who

were both soldiers and actually goes back in the family. And I

kind of just wanted to do my bit. And so I thought it would

be a useful thing to do to be able to enable me to then travel

for a living.

So it's kind of a stepping stone to becoming an explorer.

JO DYSON: What are some of the main things that the military

taught you do you feel?

LEVISON WOOD: Well you learn a lot of skills of course you

learn how to handle yourself you learn to push yourself you learn

how to go beyond anything you'd ever thought possible in terms

of your physical and mental limits but I think more

importantly it helps you to manage risk.

It enables you to realize that you can do far more than you

ever thought possible.

And actually risk in it in many ways it's quite healthy is

pushing yourself and it's not something to be completely

avoided it helps you get over your fears.

And most importantly of all i think just having a really good

network of people friends ex-army guys men and women that

are doing interesting things that's kind of set me up to be

an explorer and to be able to do what i'm doing now.

JO DYSON: So Levison you have been all around the world,

perhaps to more countries than most people being an explorer

and adventurer. What are some of the most memorable moments from

your travels?

LEVISON WOOD: Gosh, that's a tough one. I mean, I've been

very lucky to travel in upwards of 120 countries now.

JO DYSON: 120?

LEVISON WOOD: Yeah, in all sorts of different environments,

walking along the Nile for nine months, that was 4,250 miles.

I walked the length of the Himalayas, all of Central

America, across the deserts of Arabia.

So some amazing expeditions. But really what I found most

incredible was the people, the communities that I've met along

the way.

And I met this old gentleman, must have been at least 80 years

old, walking up these mountains with a big bag on his back, one

of those big baskets, filled with seeds.

And since his wife had passed away 20 years before, he'd just

spent his life walking around the hills of Nepal planting

seeds. So the next generation can benefit from, you know,

those trees.

JO DYSON: I mean, it's quite timely as well as you're about

to become a father thinking about the next generation.

LEVISON WOOD: Well, absolutely. I'm sure that will be one of the

first things that I do when my daughter's old enough is take

her out to go for a walk in the woods.

JO DYSON: Oh, so you know you're having a girl?

LEVISON WOOD: Yeah!

JO DYSON: Spoiler!

LEVISON WOOD: Spoiler alert!

JO DYSON: I think he's going to be an adventure girl isn't she?

LEVISON WOOD: She is, she's going to be a little explorer!

My travels have taught me above all else the importance of

respecting nature because it can be and is often portrayed to be

a dangerous world out there and people always ask me what's

what's the most dangerous situation you've been and i've

been in quite a few you know, i've been snapped up by

crocodile and chased by lions and hippos along the Nile.

And you know walk through very treacherous jungles in Central

America in the Amazon where I've come to be close to snakes and

all sorts of perilous things but what you've got to remember is

that actually walking in a natural world it's as much there

for the wildlife as it is for us and if you just have a healthy

respect for the natural world then we can just live in much

more harmony.

JO DYSON: I think we need to come back through the gate, we

must have passed the turning. We're definitely getting lost in

the woods!

Shall we continue our ascent up to the fort?

LEVISON WOOD: Let's climb this mountain!

JO DYSON: So, Levison, I know you've written books and created

documentaries on your huge expeditions and challenges. And

then the latest book, The Great Tree Story. Why trees?

LEVISON WOOD: Well, quite apart from having an appropriate

surname, I thought that trees deserve more recognition. And

I've been fortunate to spend a lot of my time on these

expeditions in forests.

And for a lot of that time, I didn't really understand too

much about why trees are so important. And it was only after

a visit to the Amazon Rainforest where I started to really take

seriously studying just how important trees are, that I

learned so many things and I wanted to share that.

I always remember the time I planted a conker tree when I was

10 years old and that tree is still there in my front yard.

JO DYSON: It actually grew!

LEVISON WOOD: It actually grew, yeah. We all have a deep

connection to trees and whether we know it or not.

JO DYSON: And so if anyone reading this but could do one

thing as a result, what would you want them to do?

LEVISON WOOD: Well, there's obviously lots of things that

people can do, supporting charities, being a bit more

conscious about where your food comes from, what kind of food

you eat, eating seasonally, being a bit more sustainable in

your mindset about consumerism, all of that stuff.

But more importantly, I think it's just going outside,

spending time in nature. You can only really appreciate and love

something if you immerse yourself in it. Let's go and hug

a tree.

JO DYSON: Perhaps we should try it now.

LEVISON WOOD: Shall we go and hug a tree?

JO DYSON: Do we think this is a good tree-hugging tree?

LEVISON WOOD: I like this. This is a great tree-hugging tree.

JO DYSON: Why don't you go first? So you can show me how I

do it.

LEVISON WOOD: Here we go. Hug this tree arms right around it's

a very big one isn't it?

JO DYSON: It is can you touch your hand?

LEVISON WOOD: No!

There we go you can feel the energy of the tree!

JO DYSON: Let me give it a go!

The moss is a bit scratchy!

LEVISON WOOD: How do you feel Jo? Connected to nature?

JO DYSON: I do it feels very sturdy doesn't it?

LEVISON WOOD: There we go!

It's important to remember that trees and forests play such an

important part in cultures all around the world.

The importance that trees have played in mythology and

folklore, storytelling throughout the ages. For

example, here in in Dartmoor, in the West Country, it's well

known that prior to the Romans, here in Wales, we're the centre

of Celtic and pagan culture, where you had the Druids.

The word druid actually means an oak seer, people who commune and

talk to the oak trees.

So oak trees have had this very special role in mythology and

storytelling for a very long time.

If you go into your local churchyard and you see an old-

Thousand-year-old Norman Church, usually there's a yew tree next

to it. Well, the yew trees were, and still are, known for their

longevity.

Some of them date back three, four, five thousand years.

And what's really interesting is that the Celts and the pagan

tribes of Britain used to worship these trees and held

them as sacred because they did live for so long.

So it's where they were seen as the trees of immortality and so

that's where they used to bury their dead.

So you've got to remember next time you see your

thousand-year-old church, you've got to remember that that yew

tree next to it has probably been there for a couple of

thousand years longer.

The trees came long before the churches.

They are symbols of rebirth and symbols of our connection to

nature. I'm sure you've been into a pub at some point called

the Green Man.

JO DYSON: I think so, yeah.

LEVISON WOOD: There we go. The Green Man is, again, this symbol

of a connection to nature. And it's not just in the UK, but the

Green Man pops up all over the world.

It's in Rajasthani culture in India. You'll see it in ancient

Persia, ancient Greece, ancient Rome.

This symbol of a man or a woman with leaves coming out of their

hair. Carved into ancient temples, churches. The same

symbol, it's a manifestation of that ancient human connection to

nature.

JO DYSON: So we've just come through a narrow path with ferns

sweeping either side of us into this sort of bigger enclosure,

which I think-

Are we at the hill fort do you think?

LEVISON WOOD: We're pretty much on top of it. There's no actual-

They call it the castle, but there's no castle here right

now. It's just a big mound and this is an Iron age fort so I

think it dates back to about 500bc.

And then when the Romans came I guess the Romans might have

taken over part of it and then apparently the Normans built

something here on top when they landed in 1066 so it's been in

use for a good many years.

That's a great view though if you can look beyond over the

tops of the canopy there you can see the the forest extending

over there towards Dartmoor And then just these rolling,

beautiful patchwork of fields and mini forests.

It's magical.

JO DYSON: I mean, looking around at all these variety of trees

that we can see in front of us. I mean, I know I'm feeling good

right now because we've done a walk. But what are the other

benefits that trees can bring to people?

LEVISON WOOD: Well, trees provide enormous benefits. I

mean, that oak tree just there probably hosts somewhere between

two and three thousand different species.

So they provide enormous harbours for biodiversity, which

means that they are so important for the ecosystem that we live

in. But as humans, you know, trees play a very important

role.

They obviously sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere,

making the world habitable, frankly.

They regulate the climatic conditions, they transpire water

to create rain, which is obviously very important for our

life here.

They cool the ambient temperature of the earth as

well, so where there's forests, temperatures are much lower than

places where there aren't.

Look at a desert, for example, and see what happens there.

They stabilize the soil, so when you deforest, particularly

hillsides and mountains like in the Himalayas, for instance,

when you start cutting down trees, the soil becomes eroded

and it completely disrupts the ecosystem because it reduces the

topsoil so new trees simply can't grow.

Which increases things like avalanches or landslides, which

in turn can have enormously disastrous consequences for

humans in terms of the people who live in those quite fragile

ecosystems.

We saw it just a couple of years ago in places like Afghanistan,

Pakistan, huge floods, a lot of that was down to deforestation

and we see it all around the world.

So trees literally hold the soil and the earth together.

But just sitting under a tree, It provides shade, it provides

that space for us to just relax and unwind in a way that we've

done for our entire evolutionary existence.

Just sitting under a tree is what we're here for I think it's

the best thing that we can possibly do and just meditating

and taking it all in.

JO DYSON: So we've left the hill fort where it was getting quite

warm out in the open and now we're coming through another

fern line pathway down through the trees and already it feels

much cooler doesn't it?

LEVISON WOOD: A good few degrees cooler down here in the beauty

of the shade.

Feels wonderful just like a magical glades down here isn't

it the river dart there flowing through this ancient woodland-

It's a beautiful beautiful place.

JO DYSON: I've just loved the variety of today Levison the

woodland area the views.

LEVISON WOOD: Well it's been quite the expedition today

hasn't it?

JO DYSON: Well if you think it's been then-

LEVISON WOOD: I've loved every moment!

You know what I think just this idea that we've been talking

about today of spending time in the woods you don't have to go

overseas you don't have to travel to the Amazon or the

congo you can go and experience a great british woodland pretty

much anywhere in the UK.

And some really beautiful ones out there here Holne Woods and

Hembury you've got this whole spectrum of biodiversity you've

got this ancient woodland in an ancient temperate rainforest

with a historical site.

You know these trees have got so many stories to tell and this

has been a very special place for a very long time and it

continues to be so and it continues to inspire people and

I feel Very inspired just being here and taking it all in.

And we're very lucky. It's a beautiful day. And there's

nowhere I'd rather be right now than having a good old walk in

the woods.

CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: Thanks for listening to Nature Fix. We'll

be back next month with a new episode.

Why not give us a follow on your favourite podcast app? And if

you've got time, leave us a rating and review.

And if you love nature, check out National Trust Podcast's

Wild Tales. Or for little ears; Ranger Rae and the Wildlifers.

Bye for now.