“PEOPLE are at the heart of countryside conservation,” according to the head of an environmental charity that strives to improve the rural landscape of West Oxfordshire.

Sharon Williams took over as director of The Wychwood Project, an organisation that aims to inspire people to restore and conserve the district's countryside, in 2015.

The 56-year-old is now overseeing plans to enhance the project’s educational output – spreading knowledge about the environment throughout the community to help people appreciate its true value.

“The thing about countryside conservation is that, at its heart, it’s about people. We couldn’t do all the things that we do if we didn’t have this great number of volunteers,” she said.

“You can’t improve, enhance and protect the countryside without people to help and value it. It’s about not taking it for granted and knowing it potentially won’t be there in the future if we don't do something."

Born in Wormington, in Gloucestershire, Ms Williams’s grandfather was a dairy farmer, meaning she was immersed in rural life from an early age - prompting an interest she holds to this day.

She didn't go to university but would later go to college where she completed a course in agriculture and equine studies.

Ms Williams started working for charities when she joined Oxfam in the early 1990s, which she described as the launch pad of a career in charitable work.

She said: “I did once work for a business and found the constant reference to a bottom line and making profit didn’t sit comfortably with me.

“I really have a big sense of wanting to put something back and make my working life count in some way.

“Charity is rewarding. There’s a sort of pride about it. When people ask what I do for a living I’m proud to tell them that I work for a charity."

Ms Williams would work for a string of charities in various roles before an advertisement for a directorial role leapt off the page.

She continued: "I live in Eynsham so I knew about the Wychwood Project for a while, then I saw the advert. I remember showing it to a friend and she just said: ‘this job description is written for you’.

"I felt like every experience I had had before was leading to this point."

The original aim of the project – which was set up in 1987 - was to put as many trees back into the Wychwood Forest as possible.

The forest covered 120 square miles, most of what is now West Oxfordshire. The district was covered in 50 per cent woodland, which was largely lost in the 19th century.

Today, still true to the group’s original aims, the project plants at least 2,000 trees every year, and has developed community woodlands across the district, including Foxburrow wood, where the group planted 10,000 trees.

But the project now covers a lot more than just tree planting. It uses teams of volunteers and works in partnership with communities planting hedgerows, rebuilding drystone walls and conserving wildlife-rich meadows, woods, hedges and ponds.

In addition, it provides advice, training, and opportunities for volunteers to become directly involved in caring for the Wychwood countryside.

Recently, and looking ahead to the future, the project has been looking at boosting its educational arm.

Ms Williams said: "We’ve really ramped up our learning programme. This started with us offering a history box resource to schools, which gave teachers a one-stop shop for delivering learning focussed on the Wychwood Forest.

"In the mid-1800s the landscape was completely changed and showing people that helps them understand how points in history influence what we have today.

"We’ve now turned that history into an exhibition which will go to the Oxfordshire Museum in Woodstock this June."

In addition to the upcoming exhibition, the project has just received a grant from Esmée Fairbairn which will enable it to recruit a new member of staff, in addition to its current team of three.

The new team member will be a countryside learning officer, promoting more activities for families, in schools, and for people in higher education.

Ms Williams thanked Oxfordshire County Council and West Oxfordshire District Council for their support.