About East Devon Tree Care

Located on Woodbury Common within the Pebblebed Heaths in East Devon, we are a small, passionate team of tree consultants providing specialist advice for tree care and tree management.

In addition to providing tree advice and undertaking tree risk and condition assessments for a broad mix of domestic and commercial customers, county councils, schools, property management companies and landowners, we also undertake tree reports for planning, development and construction to BS5837:2012 for architects, planning consultants and developers.

One of our specialisms, and one that we have a keen interest in, is working with veteran, ancient and historic trees. We can provide bespoke, best practice management advice for these important and valuable trees.

Our work history as both a tree contractor and tree consultant means we are very well placed and highly experienced to be able to offer an extensive and knowledgeable service for tree consultancy.

We would be delighted to provide a free no-obligation fee proposal for your enquiry.  If you have any questions or would like to discuss your project, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Fully Insured for Peace of Mind

We are covered by public liability insurance of £5,000,000 as well as employer’s liability of £10,000,000 and professional indemnity insurance of £1,000,000.

If you require a copy of any of our insurance policies, please contact us.

Company Background

We have over twenty years of extensive on-the-tools experience and knowledge having worked within the Arboricultural industry since 1999. 

We operated as a professional tree surgery contractor in the Devon area from 2005-2021 and were accredited Arboricultural Association Approved Contractors from 2008 until 2021.

During this time, the tree consultancy side of the business expanded rapidly and in 2021, we made the decision to transition to a tree consultancy-only firm.

We undertook over twenty years of hard graft as tree surgery contractors not only in the UK but also working on international projects in West Africa, South East Asia, Eastern Europe, Central and South America.

We are eternally grateful for the wide range of tree surgery contracting experience we gained and all the great people that we met along the way.

Please feel free to watch some of our videos from a range of our tree surgery jobs – including a short film produced for the Travel Channel at Escot House in Devon. 

Tree Surgery Works 2005 – 2021

Our Accreditations

Accreditation Logos 2023

Qualifications and Experience 

Matthew Shute

Our lead consultant, Matthew Shute, has gained a wealth of knowledge and experience from working within the field as a climbing arborist and practicing consultant for over twenty years and through continuous professional development during this time. 

  • Matthew achieved a Foundation Science Degree in Arboriculture awarded by Myerscough College / The University of Central Lancashire in 2008.
  • Matthew has been a professional member of the Arboricultural Association (Membership no PR00669) since 2008.
  • The LANTRA award for Professional Tree Inspection is a benchmark standard for assessing tree conditions at a professional level. Matthew achieved this training award in 2010.
  • In 2013, Matthew also attended a course of training in the principles and application of the Quantified Tree Risk Assessment system. Matthew has attended training courses on Visual Tree Assessment through QTRA and is also a licensed QTRA user.
  • In 2016, Matthew attended courses on BS5837 Advanced Managing Trees for Construction Sites and BS5837 Advanced Tree Assessment for Planning.
  • Matthew has a keen interest in veteran, ancient and historic trees. In 2017 he was invited to join the stakeholder group for the Ancient Tree Forum and their contribution towards the Pan European VETcert qualification. In 2018 he became a training provider for the VETree; Valuing and managing veteran trees training course. Matthew holds the VETCert Practising Level examination in 2019 and Matthew now works for The Arboricultural Association as an examiner this qualification. Matthew also passed the VETCert Consulting Level examination in 2023.
  • In 2021, Matthew attended a course of training in the principles of the VALID Tree Risk-Benefit Assessment system.

Office Finance and Administration 

Elaine Shute is co-owner and the Finance and Administration Director at East Devon Tree Care. Elaine has a qualification in Business Administration and has managed our office since 2005. Elaine deals with all the administrative and financial aspects of the company including business administration, bookkeeping, payroll, advertising and marketing, app and web development, and training.

Elaine is also responsible for health and safety and has achieved an IOSH Approved Managing Safely qualification.

In her spare time, Elaine’s hobbies include travelling, reading, walking and being out on the Pebblebed Heaths capturing images for her  nature photography account. 

Our Clients

We have a wide client base consisting of a broad mix of domestic customers, councils, commercial / private landowners, schools, developers, architects, planning consultants and property management companies.

Clinton Devon Estates Logo
Forestry England logo