Jaguar Cars and the National Forest have joined forces to plant the largest walnut wood in Britain.
It is hoped that, if successful, the Jaguar Walnut Wood will one day spawn other plantations which can be used commercially to harvest walnut.
Jaguar, which has used the species in its vehicles since the 1920s, is contributing £150,000 towards the project at Lount, Leicestershire.
A spokesperson for the car manufacturer said: ‘We are not getting involved so that in a hundred years’ time we can chop it down and put the wood in dashboards. But it would be nice to think some day there could be a stock in this country we can use.’
Mike Beasley, Jaguar’s managing director, planted the first of an eventual 10,000 trees.
Part of the wood will be an experimental area for academic and industrial research into sustainable walnut production.
