She then taught singing at the Royal Academy of Music in London, and at the Britten-Pears School in Snape Maltings on the invitation of Sir Peter Pears.
At fifteen, she was taken to the pioneers of reconstructive surgery, Harold Gillies and Archibald McIndoe, whose work on her hare lip made it invisible.
Her formal training began at the advice of a judge in a northern singing competition, who sent her to London where she auditioned for Roy Henderson, the distinguished, independent teacher of Kathleen Ferrier.
He saw her potential, and warned her the training would take seven years, but also recommended a visit to Bond Street, to 'see how the ladies dress', as he feared she looked 'a little bit provincial'.
Her Mimi, in La Bohème at Sadler's Wells earned the admiration of Lord Lurgan, who had studied and toured as a baritone (William Brownlow) with Melba, before he inherited the title.
Woodland also developed a lasting relationship with Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears, singing and touring in their English Opera Group, and often performing at the Aldeburgh Festival.