Forester, writer, teacher, activist and lover of all things green, Peter Wohlleben is the kind of guy you’d love to accompany your family on a forest walk

Sadly, he’s usually occupied at his Forest Academy in Germany, but his newest book, Be A Nature Explorer, which features 52 thoughtful, mischievous and fun things to do outdoors, is the next best thing. We caught up with Peter to talk chatty trees, family fun, and keeping hope for the future alive

“I was the green sheep of the family; from a very early age I knew I wanted to become a conservationist. I was born in Bonn in Germany, but when I was four, we moved into a little village nearby. I spent my childhood outside, watching frogs and birds. After school I got an internship as a ranger at the German forest administration, where I thought I’d act as a tree keeper. However, it turned out they wanted someone to be more of a tree butcher.

For years, my wife told me I should write books about my love of trees, using my guided tours as a basis. One day, I gave up resisting, tried writing, and look what happened! I simply wrote down what I was telling people.

However, my first bestseller, The Hidden Life of Trees (which has sold more than three million copies worldwide) was actually my sixteenth book. It took a little time for my writing to warm up! It was my son who suggested I set up a forest academy. My family have a lot of good ideas, it seems. And that’s where I am sitting now, vegan coffee in hand. We now have several buildings with seminar rooms, offices and so on. We expanded as we founded an NGO which campaigns against illegal felling in protected areas of Germany. We have also recently initiated a new university course in social ecology on which I’ll teach. Our Forest Academy also hosts Junior Forester courses, where children can spend a week doing all the things that are in my new book; tracking animals and having fun in the forest.

My favourite activity in the book is observing little rivers and ponds. You use a glass bowl, and you can take pictures through it with your phone or just watch everything that’s going on down there. I also love the activity where you close your eyes and nibble on young leaves and learn what each tree tastes like. You can make salad from beech leaves; it’s a little bit sour but perfectly fresh.