Hi, we're Jess and Jody. We have just moved to Ross on Wye and have recently welcomed our baby boy to the world and are loving the beautiful countryside around here and local community.

A couple of weeks ago we found out that Merrivale Wood is being sold by Herefordshire Wildlife Trust with bids due by prospective buyers on the 30th of October 2025.

The wood is a popular site within the local community. Access may be restricted by any future owner, and the site is being advertised as a potential ‘Visitor Attraction’.

We want to save the wood to retain public access by setting up a community group to fundraise the purchase, and future ongoing maintenance of the wood. We would also like to set up a group of volunteers who would be willing to donate small amounts of time to undertake some routine upkeep activities. We have been liaising with Councillor Daniel Lister of Ross Town Council who has expressed that there is significant interest in the initiative.

Herefordshire Wildlife trust have listed the site for £90,000. Raising this money by 30th October is unlikely but if we can demonstrate to trust that we can generate funds over a period of time and show them the benefit of maintaining the wood for community use, they will hopefully consider our application.

This is still very early days as we have only just found out about the sale, but our goal to establish the 'Merrivale Wood Conservation Group', a registered charity or Community Interest Company to own and manage the woodland going forward.

Our key values are:

If you are interested in volunteering time to help with this, please contact [email redacted]

Any donations would be very gratefully received to help us save the woodland for future generations. As per the GoFundMe T&Cs, any donations will be fully refunded should our bid be unsuccessful.