History

Tree species: Euclea racemosa – Dune Guarrie
Location: Namakwaland, South Africa
This is where it all began…

Philip Nieuwoudt, the founder of New Wood Trees, grew up in rural South Africa in the semi-arid region of Namaqualand, where trees are few and far between.  Philip has always had a deep love for trees and perhaps his future was written in the stars as his surname translates to New Wood.

Philip met Tiffany, who is English, in Cape Town in 1997, when Tiffany was working at Groote Schuur hospital.  They moved to the family sheep farm where they spent 8 years living together and where their eldest children were born.  Philip ran the farm which comprised of 4,500ha, near the border of Namibia and about 6 hours from Cape Town.

In 2001 he decided to study Horticulture where he was involved in several garden design projects.  As part of his studies, he was fortunate to undertake his practical work at the world-famous Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens situated in Cape Town.  It was there that his love for plants, and particularly trees developed.

In 2004 they emigrated to the UK where Philip began working at Deepdale Trees in Bedfordshire.  Trees became his passion and New Wood Trees was born.

Incorporated in 2008, New Wood Trees was set up with the aim to supply the British market with high quality, field grown, multi-stem trees.  That same year Philip & Tiffany moved to Devon where they bought their first field, and the first trees were planted.  Initially they both worked from home, but in 2016 they bought a field which had good enough access to establish a site for the nursery.  The barn and the container area were built shortly after, plus a yard large enough to enable an arctic truck to turn around.

Over the years the nursery has expanded and now has over 11,000 trees plus a 600-tree container area.

In order to stay in touch with other growers Philip travels around Europe visiting nurseries when he can.  He is also a member of the renowned International Dendrology Society (IDS) which allows him to attend tree tours to feed his passion for trees.