An area the size of 16 football pitches will be planted with 15,000 trees.

The National Trust’s Dunstable Downs, in Bedfordshire, is set to welcome the trees over the next two years.

A spokesperson for the trust said a variety of native species, including oak, hornbeam, wild cherry, silver birch, small-leaved lime, hawthorn, hazel, willow, and crab apple, would be planted.

The project has been supported by the Forestry Commission through an England Woodland Creation grant.