Doughty Street Chambers Legacy Forest

The University of Sussex sits at Falmer, on the northern edge of the South Downs National Park. The planting in February 2026, made possible by a donation from Doughty Street Chambers, worked carefully around the existing landscape, placing trees in patches where the canopy of mature trees would not eventually shade out the young saplings. It required close attention and careful planting to make sure the new trees had the best chance.

Eighteen species went in, among them trees grown by Special Branch, a small nursery operating on permaculture principles in Stanmer Park, the valley immediately adjacent to the campus. The seedlings were grown from locally foraged seeds. Local provenance makes the trees more resilient to local conditions, and more valuable to local wildlife.

Among the species planted was the Purging Buckthorn which is the sole larval food plant of the Brimstone butterfly, one of the first butterflies to appear in the English spring.

We are in conversation with the University of Sussex about long-term ecological monitoring of this forest, at one of the most scientifically promising sites in our network.

There was something quietly powerful about the moment — people from different backgrounds coming together to place saplings of 18 species into the soil. Today, those saplings are small, but in a few decades they will stand as a forest. That long view is something I deeply admire about the work Dream for Trees is doing.
Tony Simukonde, student, University of Sussex