A COMMUNITY braved icy weather at the weekend to start the creation of a new woodland of up to 3,000 trees.

The tree-planting by residents of Lanchester, County Durham, is part of national project called Woods on your Doorstep.

The new woodland, called Dora's Wood, covers eight acres and includes oak, ash, silver birch, rowan, wild cherry and goat willow, as well as hazel, holly, dogrose and hawthorn .

Residents helped at each stage of the project, including designing and naming the wood - after Dora Greenwell (1821-1882), a local poet and author who was born and lived in Greenwell Ford, overlooking the new site.

Dora's Wood is bordered by Smallhope Burn. On one of its boundaries is the Lanchester Valley Walkway, from which the site can be easily reached.