Who owns it?
It is privately owned. The owner is Ron White a retired Civil Servant. He lives in Berkhamsted with his wife Ann.

How is it paid for?
Privately-there is no public funding, grants or subsidies.

How did it come about?
Ron White saw retirement as an opportunity to do something different: a third stage in life. A stage when he was not constrained by having to earn a living. He also thought it was vital to have a keen interest. As he approached retirement he considered a number of possibilities. He prayed asking God to lead him. He soon settled on woodland management, about which he knew nothing, but was keen to learn.

He began to look for a woodland to buy. He visited one but it was clearly unsuitable. At this point, Ann realised that he was serious. One Sunday afternoon they were walking their dog in the nearby Hockeridge Woods when they saw a field adjoining the woods, known locally as Soldiers’ Bottom, was for sale. It was a bare field of about 4 hectares (10 acres). It was the closest field to where they lived. It was ideal. Soon Ron became its owner. This was in 1997.

Why “Beulah”?
A few years before buying the field Ron had planted 72 tiny Christmas trees in the back garden of Beulah Chapel in Kings Road, Berkhamsted. The chapel was owned by Kings Road Church, to which Ron belonged, and was used for its youth work. All the trees flourished and when they were a suitable size they were cut down and sold. All the proceeds went towards the church’s work.

The name Beulah comes from Isaiah 62:4 “No longer will they call you Deserted, or name your land Desolate. But you will be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; for the LORD will take delight in you, and your land will be married”. The idea of the Lord delighting in the land thrilled Ron and seemed wonderfully appropriate. A thought he coupled with words from Isaiah 61:3“a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendour”. He intended that somehow it would bring glory to God.

What are our aims?
Increasingly th focus is on conserving endangered species. See the sections on “UK National Collection of Cedars” and “Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE)” for further details.