PUPILS from Newton Poppleford Primary School have planted a piece of history in honour of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

Sidmouth Herald: Pic by Guy Newman. Pupils from Newton Poppleford Primary School visit Harpford Woods in East Devon to help staff from Clinton Devon Estates plant a Jubilee Wood. L-R Lauren, Reece and Jacob planting saplings.Pic by Guy Newman. Pupils from Newton Poppleford Primary School visit Harpford Woods in East Devon to help staff from Clinton Devon Estates plant a Jubilee Wood. L-R Lauren, Reece and Jacob planting saplings. (Image: Copyright © 2013 Guy Newman)

Sixteen year three students were invited by landowner Clinton Devon Estates to plant tree saplings at a three-hectare site near the village.

The site will form part of a new Jubilee Wood to mark the 60th anniversary of the Queen’s accession to the throne.

As an official part of the Woodland Trust’s Jubilee Woods project, the land was chosen by Clinton Devon Estates to provide an additional place for recreation that would lead to the creation of a new network of public footpaths in the surrounding countryside.

Located alongside Harpford Wood, Jubilee Wood is the estates’ first new planting to be registered with the Woodland Carbon Code.

Around 6,000 Douglas fir and oak saplings are being planted.

Although the area will not be mature for another eight decades, the new public access routes are now open and join the 40-mile East Devon Way with footpath number 12 at Newton Poppleford.

Seven-year-old Amy Sunderland said: “The trees that we planted will take about 80 years to grow to their full height, but I can’t wait to watch them grow.”