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

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Claire Hickinbotham.

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

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have been changed by the
outdoors and join them in a

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place that inspires them.

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

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who's joining explorer, TV
presenter and writer Levison

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Wood.

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

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one of the UK's remaining
ancient temperate rainforests in

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Dartmoor.

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We'll be uncovering the
folklore, secret histories and

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

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yourself to get lost in the
woods.

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

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

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in Devon.

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

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

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

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that, I'm meeting Levison Wood.

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LEVISON WOOD: Hey Jo, how are
you doing?

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JO DYSON: Oh Lev, good to see
you.

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LEVISON WOOD: Likewise.

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

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Devon.

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

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

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come exploring so my first time
here in Holne woods.

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

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

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the woods shall we?

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JO DYSON: Love that!

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

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LEVISON WOOD: Do my best

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

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right, so still up?

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

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

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and the canopy at the top?

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

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ones, aren't they?

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

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

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rainforests because there's so
much trunk and bark.

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

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believe it or not.

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JO DYSON: Is it?!

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

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

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

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

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

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It feels like a rainforest.

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

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at the top of the canopy.

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

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

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

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part of an ancient ecosystem.

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

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

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

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

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natural, wild area.

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

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Nottingham and read history
there, but then you chose to

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join the military. What brought
you to that decision?

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

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

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

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

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

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for a living.

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

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

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taught you do you feel?

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

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

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

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of your physical and mental
limits but I think more

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importantly it helps you to
manage risk.

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

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ever thought possible.

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

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pushing yourself and it's not
something to be completely

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avoided it helps you get over
your fears.

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

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

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

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

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

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perhaps to more countries than
most people being an explorer

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

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your travels?

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

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very lucky to travel in upwards
of 120 countries now.

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JO DYSON: 120?

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

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

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I walked the length of the
Himalayas, all of Central

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America, across the deserts of
Arabia.

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So some amazing expeditions. But
really what I found most

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

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the way.

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

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

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of those big baskets, filled
with seeds.

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

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spent his life walking around
the hills of Nepal planting

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

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those trees.

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

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to become a father thinking
about the next generation.

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

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

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her out to go for a walk in the
woods.

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

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LEVISON WOOD: Yeah!

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JO DYSON: Spoiler!

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LEVISON WOOD: Spoiler alert!

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

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

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My travels have taught me above
all else the importance of

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

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

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

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

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crocodile and chased by lions
and hippos along the Nile.

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And you know walk through very
treacherous jungles in Central

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

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

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

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

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

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more harmony.

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

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

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the woods!

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Shall we continue our ascent up
to the fort?

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LEVISON WOOD: Let's climb this
mountain!

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

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documentaries on your huge
expeditions and challenges. And

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

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LEVISON WOOD: Well, quite apart
from having an appropriate

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surname, I thought that trees
deserve more recognition. And

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

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expeditions in forests.

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

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

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

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seriously studying just how
important trees are, that I

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learned so many things and I
wanted to share that.

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

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

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JO DYSON: It actually grew!

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

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connection to trees and whether
we know it or not.

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

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

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

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people can do, supporting
charities, being a bit more

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

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

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your mindset about consumerism,
all of that stuff.

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

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

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

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a tree.

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JO DYSON: Perhaps we should try
it now.

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LEVISON WOOD: Shall we go and
hug a tree?

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

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

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

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do it.

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

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a very big one isn't it?

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JO DYSON: It is can you touch
your hand?

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LEVISON WOOD: No!

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

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JO DYSON: Let me give it a go!

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The moss is a bit scratchy!

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

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

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LEVISON WOOD: There we go!

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

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important part in cultures all
around the world.

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The importance that trees have
played in mythology and

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folklore, storytelling
throughout the ages. For

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

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

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

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

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talk to the oak trees.

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

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storytelling for a very long
time.

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

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

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

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longevity.

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

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

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tribes of Britain used to
worship these trees and held

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them as sacred because they did
live for so long.

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

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that's where they used to bury
their dead.

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

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

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

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thousand years longer.

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The trees came long before the
churches.

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They are symbols of rebirth and
symbols of our connection to

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

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the Green Man.

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JO DYSON: I think so, yeah.

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

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

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Green Man pops up all over the
world.

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

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Persia, ancient Greece, ancient
Rome.

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

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hair. Carved into ancient
temples, churches. The same

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

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nature.

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

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

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which I think-

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Are we at the hill fort do you
think?

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

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

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

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think it dates back to about
500bc.

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

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taken over part of it and then
apparently the Normans built

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

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use for a good many years.

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

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

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over there towards Dartmoor And
then just these rolling,

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beautiful patchwork of fields
and mini forests.

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It's magical.

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

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

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

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benefits that trees can bring to
people?

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LEVISON WOOD: Well, trees
provide enormous benefits. I

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mean, that oak tree just there
probably hosts somewhere between

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two and three thousand different
species.

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So they provide enormous
harbours for biodiversity, which

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

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

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role.

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They obviously sequester carbon
dioxide from the atmosphere,

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making the world habitable,
frankly.

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They regulate the climatic
conditions, they transpire water

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00:14:26,032 --> 00:14:30,013
to create rain, which is
obviously very important for our

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00:14:30,091 --> 00:14:30,615
life here.

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They cool the ambient
temperature of the earth as

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

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00:14:38,083 --> 00:14:39,036
places where there aren't.

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

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00:14:42,193 --> 00:14:46,380
They stabilize the soil, so when
you deforest, particularly

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00:14:46,411 --> 00:14:49,318
hillsides and mountains like in
the Himalayas, for instance,

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when you start cutting down
trees, the soil becomes eroded

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and it completely disrupts the
ecosystem because it reduces the

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topsoil so new trees simply
can't grow.

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00:15:00,080 --> 00:15:03,965
Which increases things like
avalanches or landslides, which

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00:15:03,984 --> 00:15:07,148
in turn can have enormously
disastrous consequences for

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00:15:07,727 --> 00:15:11,773
humans in terms of the people
who live in those quite fragile

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00:15:11,789 --> 00:15:12,609
ecosystems.

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00:15:13,094 --> 00:15:15,773
We saw it just a couple of years
ago in places like Afghanistan,

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00:15:15,812 --> 00:15:19,438
Pakistan, huge floods, a lot of
that was down to deforestation

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and we see it all around the
world.

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00:15:20,938 --> 00:15:24,828
So trees literally hold the soil
and the earth together.

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

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00:15:29,838 --> 00:15:36,243
that space for us to just relax
and unwind in a way that we've

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00:15:36,321 --> 00:15:40,008
done for our entire evolutionary
existence.

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

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00:15:44,079 --> 00:15:46,594
the best thing that we can
possibly do and just meditating

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and taking it all in.

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

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00:16:01,855 --> 00:16:05,940
warm out in the open and now
we're coming through another

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00:16:06,038 --> 00:16:13,167
fern line pathway down through
the trees and already it feels

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00:16:13,347 --> 00:16:14,589
much cooler doesn't it?

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00:16:14,886 --> 00:16:18,511
LEVISON WOOD: A good few degrees
cooler down here in the beauty

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00:16:18,558 --> 00:16:19,245
of the shade.

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00:16:22,948 --> 00:16:26,355
Feels wonderful just like a
magical glades down here isn't

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00:16:26,356 --> 00:16:30,044
it the river dart there flowing
through this ancient woodland-

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00:16:30,044 --> 00:16:32,657
It's a beautiful beautiful
place.

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00:16:32,657 --> 00:16:35,821
JO DYSON: I've just loved the
variety of today Levison the

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00:16:35,903 --> 00:16:38,442
woodland area the views.

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00:16:38,442 --> 00:16:39,981
LEVISON WOOD: Well it's been
quite the expedition today

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00:16:40,005 --> 00:16:40,389
hasn't it?

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00:16:40,389 --> 00:16:42,028
JO DYSON: Well if you think it's
been then-

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00:16:42,067 --> 00:16:43,903
LEVISON WOOD: I've loved every
moment!

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00:16:43,903 --> 00:16:47,044
You know what I think just this
idea that we've been talking

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00:16:47,091 --> 00:16:52,138
about today of spending time in
the woods you don't have to go

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00:16:53,013 --> 00:16:55,747
overseas you don't have to
travel to the Amazon or the

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00:16:55,794 --> 00:17:00,136
congo you can go and experience
a great british woodland pretty

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00:17:00,137 --> 00:17:01,656
much anywhere in the UK.

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00:17:01,757 --> 00:17:05,218
And some really beautiful ones
out there here Holne Woods and

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00:17:05,281 --> 00:17:09,937
Hembury you've got this whole
spectrum of biodiversity you've

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00:17:09,938 --> 00:17:13,617
got this ancient woodland in an
ancient temperate rainforest

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00:17:13,726 --> 00:17:16,227
with a historical site.

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00:17:16,227 --> 00:17:19,835
You know these trees have got so
many stories to tell and this

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00:17:19,836 --> 00:17:22,304
has been a very special place
for a very long time and it

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00:17:22,305 --> 00:17:26,039
continues to be so and it
continues to inspire people and

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00:17:26,040 --> 00:17:30,207
I feel Very inspired just being
here and taking it all in.

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00:17:30,208 --> 00:17:32,211
And we're very lucky. It's a
beautiful day. And there's

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00:17:32,770 --> 00:17:35,672
nowhere I'd rather be right now
than having a good old walk in

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the woods.

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00:17:40,414 --> 00:17:42,336
CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: Thanks for
listening to Nature Fix. We'll

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00:17:42,337 --> 00:17:44,219
be back next month with a new
episode.

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00:17:44,657 --> 00:17:47,563
Why not give us a follow on your
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00:17:47,578 --> 00:17:49,828
you've got time, leave us a
rating and review.

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00:17:50,360 --> 00:17:53,328
And if you love nature, check
out National Trust Podcast's

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00:17:53,375 --> 00:17:57,418
Wild Tales. Or for little ears;
Ranger Rae and the Wildlifers.

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00:17:57,938 --> 00:17:58,479
Bye for now.