About Tree Craft Ltd
Tree Craft Ltd Is owned and managed by Russell Coombs and Richard Arnold. They studied Arboriculture at Merrist Wood College in Guildford, where they each attained a National Diploma in Arboriculture, both achieving the "top student" award on their respective courses. Richard and Russell set up Arragon Tree Care together in 2000 and gradually built the business up over the next 5 years, until they merged with Tree Craft Ltd in 2005, when the company took its present form.
Tree Craft currently offers the full range of arboricultural services, but also specialises in environmentally sensitive tree work. This involves work around protected species, such as bats or work to veteran and ancient trees in order to preserve valuable ecology. For example; In our work at Knole Park in Sevenoaks, we continually have to balance the health and safety requirements of tree management with the valuable ecological environment provided by the many veteran trees on this scientifically important site.
Richard became involved in arboriculture after following a keen interest in trees, woodland and ecology. After completing his National Diploma, Richard worked on a part-time basis at Merrist Wood College as a practical instructor and in 2006 became a NPTC approved assessor. In 2003, Richard took a six month sabbatical to travel to New Zealand, where he worked as a climbing arborist for Citycare in Christchurch. Richard continues to provide industry training and assessing and holds a certificate in the "Thorough Inspection of Arboricultural Equipment" (LOLER). He attends many industry events and courses in order to add further to his skills and knowledge.
Originally qualified in amenity horticulture and became involved in woodland work whilst at Wildernesse. Upon completing his National Diploma, Russell took on a full time practical teaching post at Merrist Wood college in the Arboricultural department. During his time there Russell gained a thorough knowledge of arboricultural training and became a NPTC assessor for arboricultural related operations in 2005. He also gained his certificate of competence in the "Thorough Examination of Arboricultural Equipment" (LOLER 1998) and successfully completed a course in advanced climbing techniques. Russell continues to run many training courses and carries out regular NPTC assessments. He is committed to updating his skills and knowledge, attending regular industry training events.