Covering just 1% of Britain and along the western edge, the remaining rainforests are largely confined to steep valleys and sheltered islands isolated from livestock. Sky's Tom Heap explores the sights, sounds and smells of these hidden gems with writer Guy Shrubsole.
Skin-coloured stubby protuberances are bursting out of the branch beside me. The growth looks like coral fused with baby's fingers.Yes,"our" rainforests. They do exist in the UK, once covering about one fifth of the country but are now reduced to a fragmented necklace of green jewels along our western edge.
Over thousands of years, our rainforests fell victim to our appetite for timber, charcoal and grazing land so they are now reduced to covering just 1% of Britain, largely confined to steep valleys and sheltered islands isolated from livestock. But the landscape appears unpromising at first: open, blasted moorland broken by the occasional tor and stone walls.
It's hard to overstate the delightful strangeness of the place. It feels like we've stepped into the realm of Celtic folklore crossed with familiar Hollywood visions: Jurassic Park, Lord Of The Rings or Harry Potter.
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