A FOUR-acre field on the edge of Bondleigh village has been purchased by the Woodland Trust to create a community woodland.

The site is next to Lethbridge Wood which was bequeathed to the trust in 1987.

Local people, whose donations helped to make up the shortfall in funding, are being invited to a design meeting at the location on July 19 at 7pm to discuss the next step.

Bondleigh is one of 200 Millennium woodlands planned throughout the UK under the 'Woods on Your Doorstep' initiative.

An appeal for funding was launched in March following support for the scheme by local residents at the annual parish meeting.

Local co-ordinator Cath Pettyfer said it was 'great news' that all the money had been found to go ahead with the purchase.

She said the new woodland would create a communal area which Bondleigh did not have a present.

The Woodland Trust needed to raise £10,400 to buy the land, £8,000 of which came from the Pennon Environmental Trust and the remainder from the community and other donations.

The total cost of the project, including the first eight years management costs, is £43,000. Additional funding has come from the Millennium Commission, Forestry Commission and the Sainsbury Family Trust.

The trust's regional development officer Ben Earl said he was delighted with the local response to the project.

'It was wholeheartedly welcomed at the annual parish meeting and people have responded so well to the appeal,' he said.

'Bondleigh is a very small place, yet we have managed to reach our target fairly quickly.'

Support had also come from the North Tawton Environmental Trust, added Mr Earl.

The new woodland will be planted with native broadleaf trees and wet-loving species. A wildflower area on the site will be protected by the charity.

Mr Earl said the trust was always looking to extend existing woodlands because the amount of wildlife would increase dramatically.

The Woodland Trust is the UK's largest woodland conservation charity and seeks to protect woodland in perpetuity.

This is the second project in the area — 20 acres of privately owned woodland on the edge of Simmons Park in Okehampton was recently purchased by the charity with the community's help.