Between the cathedral city of Canterbury and the towns of Faversham, Whitstable and Herne Bay, is The Blean, an area of countryside and villages, farms, local businesses, shops and pubs.

One of its natural blessings is Blean Woods, a huge, 3000 hectare ancient woodland of which almost half has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest. in 2003, The Blean Initiative celebrated the Golden Jubilee of the Blean Natural Nature Reserve, with an exhibition of how Blean Woods has changed over the previous 50 years since the NNR was created.

The 50th birthday party, complete with cake, was the culmination of a three part project which involved the local community plus many national and local groups including the Woodland Trust and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

With LHI support, the Blean Initiative set up an oral history project to record personal recollections of local inhabitants, and established a permanent archive of local photographs and historical documents. One of the most important is a map dating from 1716, held in Canterbury Cathedral archives and photographed specially so that it can be shared with the community.

Contrary to popular (townie) belief, woodland doesn’t manage itself; the exhibition showed how the natural heritage of Blean Woods is maintained. Guided walks through the woodlands demonstrated the practicalities of management nowadays for the benefit of the wildlife. The initiative also ran workshops for local woodland owners and contractors.

An ongoing woodland archaeology project and permanent exhibition of photographs are two of the project’s continuing aims to raise awareness or the area’s heritage.