Our Story

IT BEGAN LIKE THIS…

Based in Capel (near Dorking, Surrey) Eco Logs is part of Laurence Crow Ltd, which sources all our woodfuel from the restoration of Semi-Natural Woodland in the Surrey Hills area. In business since 1989, we pride ourselves on our sustainable business model, sourcing and supplying the majority of our firewood within a 10-mile radius.

QUALITY

Eco Logs offers quality, seasoned, cut and split hardwood logs of Hornbeam, Beech, Oak, Ash, Hazel, Maple, and Birch. We DO NOT sell reconstituted sawdust “logs”.
Hornbeam, traditionally known as candlewood, is exceptionally dense, with the highest calorific value, giving a sustained, bright and incredibly hot burn. Beech is similar. The heavy Oak will keep your fire smouldering all night long. Ash is very easy to light and has been a firewood staple for centuries. It is known to burn green, although of course ours is super seasoned!

PRODUCT

We take great pride in our products from beginning to end. Our bulks bags are filled up, then tamped so bulging at the sides, and then filled up again.
Eco Logs supplies quality seasoned firewood to Dorking, Horsham, Leatherhead, Epsom, Bookham, Reigate, Redhill, Salfords, Crawley, Ashtead and anywhere in between. Although we store and transport our logs in bags, they are tipped out loose upon delivery.

SUSTAINABLE HARVESTING

Surrey is the most wooded county in England, at 22.4% woodland cover equating to 37,564 hectares. The Surrey Hills AONB, with 40%, makes up roughly half of this, at 16,270 hectares. However, our woodlands are still in a vulnerable position…
Woodland of particular concern and results from the England Biodiversity Strategy show a worrying trend for the decline of wildflowers. The survey reports a decline of 34% in Ancient Semi-Natural Woodland plants between 1990 and 2007.

Restocking of Oak trees in coppiced woodland as the young Oak saplings are a favourite for deer.

The 1.2m. tree shelters shown just protect the planted trees.  There is a temporary deer fence to protect the new shoots of re-growth on the coppiced stools.

FENCING

The fencing keeps deer from the woodland preventing their browsing of the wild flowers and ground flora.

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DECLINE

There are various reasons behind this decline. Since we in Britain exterminated our large natural predators, such as the wolf, the natural balance of the woodland ecosystems began to break down. This contributed to the ongoing trend of unnaturally high deer numbers, which in recent years has been supplemented by introduced species, such as Fallow, Sika and Muntjac. The deer population in lowland Britain is now said to be at its highest level since the Norman Conquest. Such large, undisturbed population’s heavy browsing restricts the growth of young trees and damages woodland flora. The Deer Society and Government figures advise an annual cull in the U.K. of 250,000 per annum, as well as protecting particularly vulnerable areas using fencing.

WILDLIFE

Coupled with this, traditional management, very often coppice with standards, has largely died out over the last 100 years, due to the decline in the rural economy and the widespread use of man-made materials replacing woodland products. “The number of people employed in forestry, as in agriculture as a whole, has continued to decline, unsurprisingly after years of the UK timber market being undercut by cheaper foreign imports and the relentless increase in the cost and regulation of employment” (Woodland Management in the Lowlands, Peter Brown, 2011). Neglected coppice becomes overshadowed by the canopy and eventually dies, resulting in a simple woodland structure, with few shrubs or canopy gaps, much to the detriment of birds, insects, and wildflowers.

NIGHTINGALES

Therefore, Woodland Management is required, not only for the growing of high quality, sustainable timber, but to fulfill the role of a naturally functioning forest for the benefit of wildlife. Our work has been testament to this, with Nightingales returning to woodlands, where they have not been heard for a generation.

RURAL ECONOMY

The current growing demand for wood fuel now makes much of the Ancient Semi Natural Woodland of commercial interest, often with yields of up to 150 tonnes per hectare, on a 16 to 25 year sustainable rotation of coppiced timber species, not including hazel. 

By purchasing local, sustainable woodland products such as ECO LOGS you are directly assisting wildlife conservation and the rural economy.