If you want to invest money for your children or grandchildren, or just want to try something different from putting your money into bricks and mortar, then how about growing trees in tropical countries - mahogany, sandalwood and agarwood to be precise.

Paul Rockwood recently set up a UK office in Witney for the international firm Touchwood Forestry to allow you do just that.

Started ten years ago by Sri Lankan entrepreneur Roscoe Maloney, the company grows mahogany and sandalwood in Sri Lanka and agarwood in Thailand.

With more than 400,000 trees planted in 28 plantations, and a turnover of £25m a year, the company makes most of its money by selling saplings to consumers and then taking a ten per cent cut to maintain and harvest them.

Mr Rockwood explained: "Depending on the species bought, it will take between five and 18 years for them to reach maturity. Then the owner of the trees can harvest them and get all the profits."

The trees are completely owned by the customer and he is keen to stress that customers can find other companies to maintain them, but that once bought, they do have to be maintained.

Aimed at the private investor rather than large corporations, the minimum capital outlay is around £2,500.

That would buy you 50 sandalwood trees with a projected harvest value 16 years later of £72,700 (minus maintenance costs of £246 a year).

Mahogany trees are left for 18 years. If you buy 160 trees for £5,370 and pay maintenance charges of £282, your harvest value is projected at £178,955.

With agarwood, the returns are smaller, but then the tree is only growing for six years before being harvested. A £3,625 outlay could potentially return £13,588.

The annual maintenance is higher however at £363. Of course, the more trees you buy, the greater the potential rewards.

The three types of trees have been chosen as they are increasingly rare in the wild and so of higher value.

In fact mahogany is protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and can only be grown legally in sustainable forests, although there is a huge illegal trade.

"Globally, commercial forestry only accounts for nine per cent of hardwood being cut. Now the race is on to plant enough so that we don't run out of natural forest before it's too late," said Mr Rockwood.

Putting your money into planting trees seems a very eco-friendly thing to do and the company does make claims on its website that it can reduce global warming and increase biodiversity.

However, Mr Rockwood is keen to play down the environmental benefits in favour of the commercial ones.

He said: "I sell it as a fantastic investment. At the same time, I know our ethical and environmental policies are sound. But we leave it up to the customer to decide whether they think growing trees is better than doing something else with their money."

He doesn't like the word green, claiming it is too widely used.

"We're in the situation now where it's fine to be doing something non-green if you can be seen to be doing it in a green way. It drives me nuts."

It is refreshing to meet someone who isn't jumping on the green bandwagon, even though his company is growing trees. Nevertheless, he is proud of Touchwood's strict policies.

He added: "We understand people are going to be concerned about forestry products. We make a profit, but we respect our responsibilities and keep areas of our plantations completely wild."

This is something that is particularly important for agarwood.

"There are certain areas in Thailand that produce particularly good agarwood, so we buy land in these areas and try to maintain the goodness of that by having natural breaks."

Mr Rockwood's work background is in the catering industry, but he is a quarter Sri-Lankan and has always been interested in forestry. This is in part due to inheriting a 50-acre coconut plantation from his grandfather in Sri Lanka.

He found out about Touchwood a couple of years ago while looking for an organisation that would look after his own trees.

He said: "Touchwood was by far the best, so I started to talk to them about maintaining it for me. They then asked if I would like to be their UK agent."

His immediate plans are to establish Touchwood and make it self-sufficient, but then also help others wanting to establish plantations in Sri Lanka and Thailand.

Now 49, he is enjoying the career change.

"To be honest, the whole thing is almost like a hobby for me," he said.

"I absolutely love Sri Lanka and Thailand. I love the people and the food."

It also means he can go back to Sri Lanka and learn the trade of his grandfather.

It does have a pleasing symmetry, going back to your roots through planting them.