BEAR WALK, THE WILD PLACE, BRISTOL

The summer of 2019 saw the return of bears to ancient woodlands on the outskirts of Bristol after thousands of years away. Bear Wood shows the effects of woodland loss on our native wildlife. It is the story of what was, where we are now and what is still at stake. Five European grey wolves were moved to a new home which they share with the brown bears. Lynx and...

The summer of 2019 saw the return of bears to ancient woodlands on the outskirts of Bristol after thousands of years away. Bear Wood shows the effects of woodland loss on our native wildlife. It is the story of what was, where we are now and what is still at stake. Five European grey wolves were moved to a new home which they share with the brown bears. Lynx and wolverine also roam the woodland as they would have done centuries ago.

Elmtree was part of the exciting development of Bear Wood and we are extremely proud to have been involved in the project. Our brief was to install a timber walkway that winds through seven and a half acres of woodland. Elmtree were responsible for the construction of a raised timber winding walkway 705 metres long and 2.4m wide with wider sections and up to 7 metres in height that enables visitors to walk through the woods and see wild animals in an ancient woodland setting. We were working on site for 9 months.

As part of our timber package, we also constructed other buildings including: Time chamber; Classroom; Bear and Wolf house; Bear and Wolf viewing area; Bear viewing pod; Café and Toilets; A ranger station; and an Interpretation space, providing a creating an immersive experience for all.

We gave careful consideration to maintaining as much of the woodlands as possible during construction and we were not permitted any type of machinery on the woodland floor so completed all of our works by hand.