Your stories

It seems more and more people are changing careers midway through their working lives.

Quite often these changes can be dramatic.

Val Coulton from Worksop is one example of someone who has taken the brave decision of giving up a steady job for something completely different.

"It's wonderful, " she says of her new career as a forester at Sherwood Pines near Edwinstowe.

"I've always had an interest in the outdoors. To be able to do this as a job is fantastic."

Val Coulton cgecks the trees in Sherwood Pines

Away from the numbers

She left behind a career stuck indoors counting cheques for one where a third of her life is spent outdoors.

"It's a very wide ranging job. It's multi-purpose forestry. You're looking at the forestry operational side as well as the recreational and conservation ones.

"A lot of what I do is planning for operations to take place. This can by from the establishment and preparation and maintenance of the ground to the continuing care of the trees until we get to the point where we're looking for harvesting."

100% forester

What was once a pleasant pastime is now a full blown career and Val sometimes finds it difficult to switch off.

"You'll be looking for wildlife, seeing what's out and about, listening out for birds and what's moving on the ground.

You also find yourself looking at the trees as well."