From Living Woods issue 61
Live Your Bucket List – JULIA GOODFELLOW-SMITH explains how to realise your goals, including owning a woodland
LIVE YOUR BUCKET LIST
Simple Steps to Ignite Your Dreams, Face Your Fears and Lead an Extraordinary Life, Starting Today
JULIA GOODFELLOW-SMITH
Softback
190 pages
RRP £9.99
ISBN 0859560740
Living Woods regular Julia Goodfellow-Smith has provided a wonderful commentary on her activities in her woodland in the Malvern Hills as she and her husband learnt how to manage it. She has branched out and written a self-help book designed to guide readers towards their life goals. She explains how her woodland proved to be a valuable source of inspiration.
Live Your Bucket List explains how to break down goals into achievable plans which will enable you to fulfil your dreams, whatever they may be.
What prompted you to write a self-help book?
As I walked the South West Coast Path last year, I kept being reminded of lessons I had learnt during my life – about the value of planning, the power of self-talk and how interacting with people can boost your day, to name just three. I had planned to write a book on my return, but had not dreamt that it would be about self-help, but these were the strongest messages arising from my journey. I felt that writing a book on the subject would be a really positive way to help other people to live their bucket lists, as I have been living mine.
It’s a really interesting and personal story and your woodland plays a valuable supporting role. Did owning your own woodland help you achieve your goal?
One of the many things that attracted Mike and me to each other was our shared love of woodlands – and our desire to own one someday. It was one of the most stretching goals we have had – and with a bit of determination and careful planning, we achieved it! Once you start achieving some of your life’s goals, others don’t seem so impossible. So yes, I guess that achieving such a big life goal with the woodland did give me more confidence to achieve some of my other goals.
What advice would you give to those who have owning a woodland at the top of their bucket list?
Don’t ever give up – and don’t assume that you can’t afford it. We had been looking for a woodland for three or four years before we found Garland Wood. We had already downsized our house to reduce our outgoings and sometimes rented out our spare room to increase our income. Those actions allowed us to save well, which meant that we could increase our budget. And our timing was perfect – Garland Wood came on to the market just as we had enough to buy it, and it is only 15 miles from home.
As a woodland owner, do you have a bucket list for your wood?
We would like to erect a more solid shelter – our canvas bodgers’ shelter takes a lot of maintenance. In terms of the trees themselves, we have had contractors in to do a major thinning exercise, and now we would like to continue with the management plan ourselves, milling timber for our use and to feed into the local market.