Lovers of luxury seed homegrown walnut revival

A British scientist is attempting to revive walnut timber production by planting thousands of saplings germinated from nuts brought back from central Asia.

Dr Gabriel Hemery is convinced the walnut, with its premium price, could be a saviour of the British timber industry.

Plans to grow walnut commercially will be welcome news. England's image as a green and pleasant land was further dented by a study last week, showing it has the second smallest percentage of woodland in Europe – just 8 per cent of the country is covered by trees compared to 30 per cent in Germany.

Walnut was the most prized of hardwoods in Britain until the 18th century when traders begun to import species like mahogany from areas such as the Caribbean as a substitute.

Even now, walnut burr veneer, with its exquisite patterns, is highly sought after for cabinet-making and on the dashboards of luxury cars, while solid walnut is used for the stocks of expensive shotguns. But, while walnut is considered a quintessential sign of English luxuriousness, the truth is the wood is all imported.

It was while trekking through Kyrgyzstan in central Asia that Dr Hemery was amazed at the scale of the walnut trees stretching high into the forest canopy. "Here, we think of walnut as an orchard or an ornamental parkland tree, but in central Asia, you see valley after valley of pure walnut with beautiful straight-stemmed trees soaring up to the light over 30 metres tall."

In all, some 2,200 walnut saplings have been established, mainly at the Northmoor Trust estate, near Abingdon in Oxfordshire, where Dr Hemery is forest research manager.

He is also consultant to a project sponsored by Jaguar Cars, which saw the first of over 10,000 saplings, sourced mostly in France, planted last November over 16 hectares in the new National Forest near Lount, in Leicestershire.

Jaguar's craftsmen use walnut on dashboards and gear-sticks but current supplies are grown in California. "We have a great love for walnut," said a spokesman for the car maker, "and we'd pleased if this led to some decent walnut being grown in Britain."

Dr Hemery has also met Richard Purdey, chairman of gunmakers James Purdey & Sons, who applauds the project but acknowledges it will be decades before it is clear whether English walnut has the texture and strength for the stocks of their guns and rifles.

Purdey makes 70 to 80 guns a year, which can cost more than £40,000 a pair. Their Turkish walnut is up to 400 years old and chosen for its workability, reliability of the grain, as well as figuring. "We'd be interested if he can demonstrate the walnut from his plantations is suitable for gunmaking," he said. "Our next generations of customers would lust after its colour and texture."

As Dr Hemery said: "Walnut was here before mahogany and my aim is to revive it as a viable alternative once again – and maybe help to save a few rainforests into the bargain."