Tree Risk Management for Bodelwyddan Castle — Warner Hotels, North Wales

THE CHALLENGE:

Bodelwyddan Castle is a Grade II listed hotel set within 200 acres of Victorian parkland in Denbighshire, North Wales. Warner Hotels, as the site operator, had a clear duty of care obligation to guests, visitors, and staff across the estate — and required a comprehensive, professionally documented tree risk management programme that would satisfy both their health and safety obligations and their duty as custodians of a nationally significant historic landscape.

The parkland contains a substantial population of mature and veteran trees of significant arboricultural and amenity value — many of them original Victorian planting — set within a designed landscape that requires careful management to balance public safety with the long-term preservation of the estate's historic character.

OUR ROLE:

Urban Tree Management carried out a complete tree inventory and risk assessment across the full 200-acre parkland estate using Tree Plotter digital tree management software and GPS Trimble hardware. Every individual tree was visually assessed using the Visual Tree Assessment methodology, and groups of trees and areas of woodland were walked, assessed, and mapped to provide a fully comprehensive record of the tree population across the park.

The survey recorded species, condition, structural integrity, defects, and risk rating for every tree — producing a georeferenced tree inventory that gives the client a precise, searchable, and updatable record of their entire tree stock.

A full Health and Safety report and tree risk management plan was produced alongside the inventory, incorporating an extensive tree schedule outlining recommended tree works, works priorities, and future re-inspection frequencies for every tree and woodland block on the estate.

THE OUTCOME:



Warner Hotels received a complete, defensible tree risk management dataset covering one of the most arboriculturally and historically significant hotel estates in Wales — providing clear evidence that their duty of care obligations were being actively and professionally managed, a practical prioritised works schedule for their grounds team, and a georeferenced tree inventory that can be updated at each future inspection cycle.

This project demonstrates Urban Tree Management's experience in delivering large-scale tree risk management programmes on historic estate and heritage hotel sites where public safety and landscape conservation must be managed together.