70 Ancient Woodlands

The Queen’s Green Canopy is delighted to unveil the following 70 Ancient Woodlands which have been dedicated to Her Majesty in celebration of the Platinum Jubilee.

Click here to download the full list.

Coed Gwent (Wentwood Forest)
Coed Gwent, Monmouthshire

Coed Gwent (Wentwood Forest) is part of the largest block of ancient woodland within Wales with a recorded history spanning over 1,000 years. It once formed part of the wooded hunting preserve of Chepstow Castle from Norman times, stretching for 3,000 hectares.

Borsdane Wood
Wigan, Greater Manchester

Borsdane is an Ancient Semi Natural Woodland (ASNW) believed to have been continuous woodland cover since before 1600 AD. In 1985, the site received Local Nature Reserve status due to its high biodiversity value and as a community resource for recreation and education.

Fingle Woods
Teign Valley, Dartmoor, Devon

Fingle is a complex of three woods in the Teign Valley – Fingle, Halls Cleave and Cod Wood. Fingle is a very significant part of the prehistoric landscape, with the Iron Age Wooston Castle Hill Fort a Scheduled Ancient Monument within the wider context of the Teign Valley and its two associated hill forts. Woodland management here goes back to medieval times.

Pudler’s Wood, Pismire Spring and Round Wood (Heartwood Forest)
Sandridge, St Alban’s, Hertfordshire

Heartwood Forest is England’s largest continuous new native forest, planted entirely with volunteers. The ancient woodlands, previously fragmented within a working arable landscape, are now linked and protected through the creation of this new woodland.

An Cnap
Loch Sunart, West Highland Peninsula

An Cnap is an excellent example of Scotland’s rainforest. It forms part of an extensive Special Area of Conservation and Site of Special Scientific Interest. These sites are home to exceptionally rare and beautiful lichen; a keystone species in many ecosystems.

The Black Wood of Rannoch
Loch Rannoch, Perth and Kinross

The Black Wood is one of the most beautiful surviving areas of the ‘Great Forest of Caledon’. It has survived largely undisturbed since the last Ice Age approximately 10,000 years ago. Fellings in the medieval period provided timber for local needs through periods of clan warfare, and more recently Canadian troops exploited the area in WWII. Now the rich history and biodiversity in the forest denote it as a Special Area of Conservation and it is favoured by researchers.

Glentrool Oakwoods
Loch Trool, Galloway Forest Park, Dumfries and Galloway

This area of ASNW is made up of three woods (The Buchan, Caldons and Glentrool), at the heart of the extensive Galloway Forest Park. Located beside the beautiful Loch Trool, this woodland was the site of The Battle of Glen Trool; a minor engagement in the First War of Scottish Independence, fought in April 1307. Bruce’s Stone resides here commemorating Robert the Bruce and his victory here.

Dalavich Oakwood
Dalavich, Argyll and Bute

Dalavich Oakwood was heavily coppiced during the 18th & 19th centuries to provide bark for tanning, and charcoal to supply the historic Bonawe Iron furnace. Much of the woodland was underplanted with Sitka Spruce and Silver Fir in the 1950s but, unusually, the oaks survived, continuing to grow under the conifers. This wood was the subject of some of the earliest research into Planted Ancient Woodland Site (PAWS) restoration and restoration was so successful here that it is often impossible to see any signs of the previous plantation.

Glen Nant National Nature Reserve
Glen Nant, Argyll and Bute

Glen Nant is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a National Nature Reserve for its ancient oakwoods and associated wildlife.
It was the source of charcoal for the historic Bonawe Iron furnace at nearby Taynuilt and at its peak had over 600 people living and working in the woods producing charcoal. Today the woods are popular with walkers and bird watchers locally and across the UK and Europe.

Dalkeith Oak Wood
Dalkeith Country Park, Midlothian

Dalkeith Oakwood is one of two remaining ancient park woodlands in Scotland and has been carefully managed for hundreds of years. It is unique in the Lothian area as an ecological and historical record and only five miles south-east of Edinburgh. The Dalkeith area has had continuous woodland cover for thousands of years.

Cashel Forest
Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park

Cashel Farm is a former hill farm located within the Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park extending to some 3,000 acres on the eastern shores of Loch Lomond. The area rises to 580 metres above sea level, and therefore can represent most of the different woodland types which are native to Scotland following the last ice age.

Hamilton High Parks
Fernigair, Hamilton, South Lanarkshire

The steeply incised valley of the Avon Water here is part of the Clyde Valley Woods National Nature Reserve, its ancient semi-natural woodland a northern form of Oak-Ash-Elm woodland. The Cadzow Oaks here were part of a medieval royal hunting forest believed to have been created by King David I of Scotland. Home to a number of nationally rare species, it is now managed as wood pasture; a UK Biodiversity Action Plan priority habitat.

Loch Arkaig
Lochaber, Highlands

Loch Arkaig Pine Forest is one of the 84 ancient Caledonian pinewood remnants left in Scotland. This forest is currently undergoing a large ancient woodland restoration programme, the biggest ever undertaken on a Woodland Trust site. It was the subject of a very large fire in 1942, which burned for five days. The fire was accidentally started by the newly formed Commando unit, who had their secret training ground there during WW2.

Beinn Eighe and Loch Maree Islands
Beinn Eighe and Loch Maree Islands, Wester Ross

Beinn Eighe was the first National Nature Reserve to be declared in the UK, in September 1951. It was established originally to protect Coille na Glas Leitir (The Wood of the Grey Slope), the largest fragment of ancient Caledonian pine wood in north-west Scotland. Coille na Glas Leitir is a temperate rainforest adapted to the cool, wet climate of north-west Scotland; a habitat rare across the world. The ancient Caledonian woodland here is believed to have been present continuously throughout the last 8000 years.

Brackfield Wood & Faughan Valley Woods
Faughan Valley, County Londonderry

The Faughan Valley contains some of the highest concentrations of ancient woodland in Northern Ireland. Brackfield was the Woodland Trust’s NI expression of the First World War 100 year commemoration site which saw the Trust create one commemoration site for each country in the UK. 40,000 trees were planted here as part of the scheme to commemorate the lives lost from Irish regiments during the war.

Castle Eden Dene Woodlands (Castle Eden Dene National Nature Reserve)
Easington, County Durham

The Ancient Semi Natural Woodland of Castle Eden Dene covers 221 hectares of oak, yew and ash woodland and magnesian limestone habitat within a narrow valley created by post glacial melt waters which carved spectacular limestone cliffs and gorge. Rarely, due to its size and difficult terrain, large parts of the woodland remain comparatively free from human disturbance, despite the proximity of Peterlee New Town.

Wyre Forest National Nature Reserve
Kidderminster, Worcestershire

Wyre Forest is the largest woodland National Nature Reserve in the country. It is dotted with meadows, old orchards and areas of scrub. The site supports England’s largest colony of pearl-bordered fritillary butterflies. 33 species of butterfly and over 1,150 types of moth have been recorded. Golden-ringed and club-tailed dragonflies can be seen near the streams.

Derbyshire Dales National Nature Reserve (Low Wood, Meadow Place Wood, Doctor’s Wood, Ravensdale Wood, Monk’s Dale Wood)
Near Blakewell, Derbyshire

The ancient woodlands of the Derbyshire Dales are in the heart of the limestone area of the Peak District National Park. The three separate valleys of Lathkill, Cressbrook and Monk’s Dales have their own character, but all are very scenic and provide superb walking to the local community and the many tourists visiting the National Park.

Gait Barrows Wood and Thrang Wood (Gait Barrows National Nature Reserve)
Carnforth, Lancashire

Gait Barrows was chosen as the first location in the AONB to reintroduce dormice in June 2021 due to its exceptional woodland management and is now the second-most northerly site in the UK for this species. The forest can be accessed by the astonishing accompanying open rock pavements; a feature of the underlying ancient Carboniferous limestone.

Lady Park Wood National Nature Reserve
Lady Park Wood, Monmouthshire- Gloucestershire border

Lady Park Wood is part of a large woodland complex in the Wye Valley. The site is an example of a near-natural, purposefully unmanaged woodland. Considered to be one of Britain’s most important sites for woodland conservation, this site has been the subject of many long-term studies of natural woodland, thus allowing detailed comparisons of managed and unmanaged mixed broadleaf woodland.

Langley Wood National Nature Reserve
Salisbury, Wiltshire

Langley Wood, at the northern tip of The New Forest National Park, is predominantly oak woodland but there is also the notable presence of small-leaved lime, generally in the form of large tall stems grown from old coppice stools. The woodland is important for its tree lichens and is home to rare butterflies, beetles and moths. Almost 600 species of fungi have been found in the wood, and the site is excellent for woodland birds. The nature reserve benefits from the input of a group of very dedicated local volunteers.

Burnham Beeches
Burnham, Buckinghamshire

Burnham Beeches is an ancient wooded common that was of historical importance to local people for their wood and grazing land. Acquired by the City of London in 1880 to protect the natural aspect and provide for fresh air and exercise for the people of London, it is now a nature reserve of European Importance (Special Area of Conservation) as well as a public open space. Close to a number of significant studios, the woodland has been used for a number of notable films including ‘Robin Hood Prince of Thieves’, ‘The Princess Bride’, and ‘Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix’.

Ashtead Common
Ashtead, Surrey

Ashtead Common is a wooded common, home to over 1,000 living ancient oak pollards consisting of ancient wood pasture. The Common has remained wooded as far back as a peaceful transition between the late Iron Age and early Roman periods. Following Roman occupation, Ashtead Common remained relatively wild and undeveloped until today in part thanks to its difficult soils and drainage.

Epping Forest
Epping, Essex

Up to 1 million mature trees reside in Epping Forest, including ancient coppice stools – the largest population of ancient trees of any single site in the UK. It was also made a Royal Forest in the 12th Century but commoner rights remained. These rights, combined with large protests from Londoners in the 19th Century, contributed to the saving of the Forest from enclosure – one of the earliest official Acts of nature conservation in the UK.

Warburg Reserve
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire

Warburg Nature Reserve is a hidden wildlife gem, nestling in the Chiltern Hills, four miles northwest of Henley-on-Thames. The site was bought by the Wildlife Trust in the late 1960s. The purchase of the reserve was made possible by the tremendous persistence and fundraising ability of the late Vera Paul, a local school teacher and amateur naturalist who recognised that Bix Bottom was a very special place. The reserve was named after Dr E. F. Warburg who was a well-known botanist working at Oxford University.

Ebernoe Common
Ebernoe, West Sussex

Ebernoe Common is a mixture of ancient semi-natural woodland and ancient wood-pasture, with associated new wood-pasture development. Alongside all the incredible veteran trees and ancient glades full of flowers and ant hills, the reserve has many interesting cultural features including a 16th century furnace pond, associated with early iron production in Sussex and an 18th century brick kiln with many small clay pits.

Wytham Woods
Wytham, Oxfordshire

Wytham Woods is where Charles Elton, the ‘father of ecology’, worked and developed his ideas to transform the study of natural history into the scientific discipline of ecology. This area has been the subject of continuous ecological research programmes, many dating back to the 1940s. These projects cover a vast range of topics ranging from climate change and forest health, to mammal gut microbiomes and genome sampling of arthropods.

Corby Woodland (Hazel and Thoroughsale Woods)
Corby, Northamptonshire

Hazel and Thoroughsale Woods complex of Ancient Woodland and other habitats estimated to be 1,200 years old and now entirely surrounded by the town of Corby. This is of course extremely rare. Despite this, the Woods have received the Green Flag Award eight times in recognition of the effective and sustainable management of this historic site!

Falls of Clyde Wildlife Reserve
New Lanark, South Lanarkshire

Glacial melt waters from the last Ice Age formed the steep-sided gorge today known at the Falls of Clyde. The reserve was a popular destination as part of the Victorian Grand Tour and was visited by famous artists such as Turner and Naysmith, who came to capture the majesty of the reserve’s largest waterfall, Corra Linn. Trees and their root systems here provide a home for enigmatic wildlife like badgers, otters, rare bats, kingfishers, and dippers.

Mar Lodge Estate National Nature Reserve
Cairngorms National Park, Aberdeenshire

At the heart of the Cairngorms National Park lies the largest remnant of the historic Earldom of Mar; the vast and diverse Mar Lodge Estate.

Coille Mhor
Balmacara, Highland

Coille Mhòr – the great wood – is a stunning example of old sessile oak woods in north-west Scotland.To this day, approximately half of the site is subject to crofting tenure – a form of agricultural land holding unique to Scotland. Coille Mhor remains an important resource for the crofters in the Balmacara Square township, supporting their livestock grazing activities.

The Woodland at Corrieshalloch Gorge
Braemore, Highland

The hanging ancient wood that clings to the side of Corrieshalloch Gorge provides flavour to the already spectacular slot gorge. Corrieshalloch is the best example of a slot gorge in Scotland, and forms part of a wider cultural landscape exemplified by the ingenious Victorian infrastructure including a suspension bridge providing views right into the gorge, and paths such as Lady Fowler’s Fern Walk.

Common Wood
Penn and Tylers Green, Buckinghamshire

Once part of a huge common, Common Wood is a large fragment of ancient and semi-natural woodland in a chain of woods in the Chilterns AONB. In 2003 in response to the threat of the wood being broken into lots and sold, the local Residents Society, with the aid of a public campaign and the Heritage Lottery Fund, bought large swathes of the wood to ensure its protection.

Aconbury and Wallbrook Wood
Aconbury, Herefordshire

Aconbury and Wallbrook Wood form one contiguous woodland, the majority of which is ancient woodland. There are considerable historic records of management in the Aconbury and Wallbrook Wood going back to 11th and 12th centuries when the woods formed part of the Royal hunting forests. Aconbury Hill Fort is a Scheduled Ancient Monument dating from the Iron Age and was also used during the English Civil War.

Blickling Wood
Blickling, Norfolk

There have been people at Blickling since prehistoric times. Blickling Hall itself was once owned by the Boleyn family. The modern park dates back to the 18th century but there are nods to a past far older, with ancient wood banks and hedgerow limes as old as 600 years. The estate is one of only a handful of intact estates in the country, with over 130 houses and 10 tenant farms managed by the National Trust.

Antrim Castle Garden
Antrim, County Antrim

Antrim Castle, now demolished, was built originally in 1613 by English settler, Sir Hugh Clotworthy whose family added most of the trees and features, though records of the site here date back to 1573. For some time the castle was used for political conferences; in 1806 Right Hon. John Foster, the last Speaker of the Irish House was reported to have spoken in the Oak Room of the castle.

Hazelbank Park
Newtownabbey, County Antrim

It is also said that Hazelbank Park is the first place King Billy, otherwise known as William of Orange, arrived in Northern Ireland on the 14th June 1690. The site serves the community in Whiteabbey, Newtownabbey, Glengormley and even Belfast. The original house on the site dates back to 1796, it is believed this is when the contemporary tree planting began.

Hockeridge and Pancake Wood
Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire

Hockeridge and Pancake wood has a special character and is notable for the wide range of tree species present in part as a result of a grand tree-planting experiment including Chilterns beech and even iconic Californian giant redwoods which, if undisturbed, could survive for thousands of years. The wood was rescued from the threat of post-WWII development by local silviculturist Mary Wellesley who later gifted the wood to the Royal Forestry Society in 1986.

Glyncornel Woods
Llwynypia, Rhondda

The survival of Glyncornel’s ancient oakwood is closely tied to the coal mining history of the Rhondda Valley. The collieries in this area were developed by Scotsman Archibald Hood from 1862. They produced some of the best steam coal and powered the empire. The Glamorgan pit was the focus of the Tonypandy Riots during the 1910 strike. The house itself opened as an Environmental Centre in 1983 by Viscount Tonypandy.

Brynau Wood
Neath, Neath Port Talbot County Borough

Brynau Wood is a semi-natural ancient woodland that forms part of a larger site known as Brynau Farm recently purchased by the Woodland Trust. The Gnoll Park Estate which Brynau historically fell adjoined was part of the Norman-owned territory of Neath and Afan, which also comprised Neath Abbey and Neath Castle.

Ty Canol NNR and Pentre Ifan
Pentre Ifan, near Newport, Pembrokeshire

Ty Canol and Pentre Ifan form a large part of the largest block of ancient woodland in West Wales. Famous for its archaeological sites, Pentre Ifan is home to the famous Pentre Ifan Cromlech, a Neolithic Chambered Dolmen that is thought to date from 3,500 BC.

Calderwood
Almondell & Calderwood Country Park, Mid Calder, West Lothian

Calderwood is part of Almondell & Calderwood Country Park and also holds a SSSI designation for its Upland Oak Woodland and Valley Fen. It has been exploited for industry over the years with oak timber from here having been used to build naval ships in the 16th Century. In the 18th Century, beech and other trees such as horse chestnut were planted as the “designed landscape” surrounding Calder House.

Yarner Wood and Bovey Valley Woodlands (East Dartmoor National Nature Reserve)
Dartmoor, Devon

The East Dartmoor National Nature Reserve includes two extensive wooded areas: Yarner Wood and Bovey Valley Woodland. Both are upland Atlantic oak woodlands, part of the temperate rainforest of western Britain. The site was amongst the first batch of six National Nature Reserves to be declared in England in 1952. The 70th anniversary of that event will be in 2022, for which celebratory events are planned on the reserve.

Dibbinsdale Woodland
Birkenhead, Wirral

Set within a picturesque valley that once acted as a boundary between Saxon and Viking settlers on the Wirral, Dibbensdale is dominated by a canopy of oak unique for its diversity of surrounding habitats and resulting abundance of wildlife. Traces of wide-ranging historical periods are evident across the site from the Victorian estate, medieval hospital, viking settlement, and even Triassic dinosaurs!

Williamlaw Wood
Galashiels, Scottish Borders

Williamlaw Wood is a remnant of the original Effrick Forest which, 500 and more years ago, would have covered much of what is now the Scottish Borders. In 2015, the Estate planted a 60 acre Diamond Jubilee woodland contiguous to Williamlaw Wood to allow species to meet and mingle, expand their range and enhance their genetic diversity.

Lower Woods
Wickwar, Gloucestershire

Lower Woods is one of the largest ancient woodlands in the south-west of England and is recognised as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). Standing deadwood can be found throughout the woodland which is a very important habitat for insects and invertebrates. Traditionally the area was well known for housing nightingale, though cessation of coppicing management techniques led to their loss.

Wood of Cree
Newton Stewart, Dumfries & Galloway

The history of management of the Wood of Cree is well documented with references to the site being wooded dating back to the 13th century. Many archaeological remains are within the site here, but the main draw today is the wide-ranging wildlife be it birds or wildflowers.

Lullingstone Country Park
Eynsford, Kent

There is evidence of various settlements throughout the Lullingstone Country ranging from the Iron Age and Roman occupation, though centuries of preservation are owed to the use of the site as a medieval deer park circa 1570. Luckily, in 1938 the London Green Belt Act was established and Kent County Council, assisted by London County Council, purchased the land.

Ravensroost Wood
Malmesbury, Wiltshire

Ravensroost Wood is an ancient remnant of the medieval Royal Hunting Forest of Braydon Forest. Historically, large trees provided timber for building, and the coppiced understorey provided thinner poles for fencing, wattle, tools and firewood. One of the rare ancient woodland tree species found here, is the wild service-tree. In the past its berries were used to make alcoholic drinks.

Beech Wood and Dundonald Wood
Dundonald, Ayrshire

The Beech Wood at Dundonald is used on a regular basis by the community through a network of trails, the most significant of which is a Core Path known as the Smugglers Trail linked back to the 18th Century. Oddly, the wood is planted in the shape of a horseshoe.

Hafod Boeth
Caernarfon, Snowdonia National Park, Gywnedd

The Hafod Boeth woodland is accessible from the Ffestiniog railway heritage station at Tan y Bwlch, the oldest independent railway in the world dating back to 1832. The scenic woodland is used intensively by disembarked travellers to walk to stations up and down the line.

Benthall Edge
Ironbridge, Shropshire

Benthall Edge is a mixed broadleaved woodland, clothing the valley sides above the River Severn and world-famous Iron Bridge. The woodland has been used for the production and extraction of charcoal, coal, and limestone over several hundred years, initially for the iron industry, then later for agriculture. These old quarries, spoil heaps, and charcoal platforms are now covered in mature broadleaved woodland rich in wildlife.

Moat Farm Woodlands
Shadoxhurst, Kent

The Moat Farm Woodlands comprise oaks with an understorey of mainly hornbeam, aspen and hazel. An ancient byway allows visitors to traverse the route reputedly followed by Norman soldiers in 1066 after the Battle of Hastings to reap revenge on Warehorne Haven. To the west of this, beyond Tenterden, is Harold’s Way, a long-distance path on the route followed by King Harold on his fated march from London to Battle.

Five Hundred Acre Wood
Crowborough, East Sussex

Five Hundred Acre Wood is most famously known for its connection with A.A Milne’s series of children’s stories about Christopher Robin and Winnie-the-Pooh where it became ‘100 Aker Wood’. The woodland borders the Ashdown Forest, an ancient area of open heathland, formerly used as a hunting ground for nobility.

Badock’s Wood
Badock’s Wood, Bristol

Badock’s Wood has been a freely open recreation space for local people to relax and enjoy the wildlife for a long time. This was formalised when the woodland landowner, Sir Stanley Badock, gifted the woodland and part of the Badock’s Wood site to Bristol City Council in 1937. It is home to a Bronze Age burial site named Round Barrow.

Launde Big Wood and Launde Park Wood
Launde, Leicestershire

Launde Park and Big Wood once formed part of the Royal Leighfield Forest and was later enclosed within the deer park associated with Launde Priory (now Launde Abbey). It was then appropriated by Thomas Cromwell after the dissolution of the monasteries.

Borthwood Copse
Apse Heath, Isle of Wight

There are records of Borthwood Copse going back to the medieval era. It is noted by diarist and former English politician Sir John Oglander of the long established Isle of Wight family, and is associated with “Queen” Isabella de Fortibus who pronounced herself ruler of the island in the 13th Century.

Birks of Aberfeldy
Aberfeldy, Perth and Kinross

The Birks of Aberfeldy is a woodland, burn and waterfall landscape in Highland Perthshire located within, and stretching south of, the attractive town of Aberfeldy. The Birks of Aberfeldy were immortalised in song by Robert Burns, national poet of Scotland, who spent time here on a tour of the Highlands in 1787.

Rusland Valley Woodlands (Lake District National Park)
Ulverston, Cumbria

Rusland Valley Woodlands are for the most part ancient semi-natural upland oak woodland. They have a long history of management and a rich legacy of woodland archaeological features, epitomised by Bill Hogarth who worked throughout the Rusland Valley. In 1995 Bill was awarded an MBE in recognition of his services to the Coppice industry.

Brocton Coppice
Brocton, Cannock Chase Country Park, Staffordshire

With around 600 oaks, including some over 600 years old, Brocton Coppice is a beautiful fragment of the original Forest of Cannock which once covered 200 square miles. It is a special area that supports rare wildlife. The first documented mention of the Coppice is from 1626 and it is clearly shown on the Yates map of 1775.

Lesnes Abbey Woods
Bexley, London

Lesnes Abbey Woods in south-east London is located on a north facing promontory looking towards the River Thames. This high position above the flat Thames marshes would have dominated the landscape being easily viewed not only by boats travelling on the Thames but also by inhabitants across the water in Essex. It has been suggested this conspicuous position was the reason the site was selected by Richard De Luci, Chief Justiciar to Henry II, as the location to found Lesnes Abbey in 1178 as penance for his role in the murder of Thomas Beckett, Archbishop of Canterbury.

Coed Cors Y Gedol
Dyffryn Ardudwy, Gwynedd

Coed Cors y Gedol is an extensive woodland site comprised of Restored Ancient Woodland. Decades of constrained management leading to over-shaded understory have done a disservice to this area’s biodiversity, but in partnership with the Snowdonia National Park authority, the owner has secured funds through the Celtic Rainforest Wales Project Partnership to support the management and regeneration of the coed.

Merkland Wood
Brodick Country Park, Isle of Arran

Merkland Wood forms part of a nationally significant wider historic designed landscape surrounding Brodick Castle on the Isle of Arran. The woodland contains several sculptures created by a locally renowned sculptor Tim Pomeroy. These reflect his response to the woodland and include a canticle and unfolding ferns.

Coed Rheidol
Cwm Rheidol, Ceredigion

In addition to the environmental interest, the high value woodland in Coed Rheidol and the dramatic scenery the site, in particular Devil’s Bridge and surrounding waterfalls have been a tourist attraction for centuries, with records of tourism going back to the mid-1700s. The renowned Hafod Hotel has existed here, in one form or another, since before 1796.

Dinefwr Park and Dinefwr Castle Woods
Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire

In some parts of Dinefwr Park there are remains of medieval woodland featuring many ancient trees. At its core, this wood pasture is dominated by 293 huge oaks. The Castle Oak here is thought to be over 1,000 years old (the upper limit of an oak’s life expectancy).

Horner Wood
Horner, Somerset

Horner Wood is one of the largest unenclosed ancient semi-natural woodlands in the UK. In 1995 it was made a National Nature Reserve together with the surrounding Dunkery moorland. Evidence of humans living in and using the woodland dating back thousands of years to the Bronze and Iron Ages. 7 settlements in the wood, 6 of which are still occupied, are recorded in the Doomsday book (a manuscript record of the “Great Survey” of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of William the Conqueror).

Glen Affric
South of Loch Beinn, Highlands

Glen Affric is a ‘must see location’ for many thousands of visitors to Scotland. It is an iconic landscape and sits on the Affric-Kintail Way, a long distance path that connects the Atlantic with the Beauly Firth on the North Sea. Every year, hundreds of runners and cyclists cross the 50 mile sea to sea route in the duathlon ‘Highland Cross’ event that runs alongside this nominated area.

Thornley Woods
Gateshead, Tyne and Wear

In addition to its significant ecological value, the site at Thornley Woods forms a key component of the Derwent Walk Country Park. The site also forms a major attraction within the Land of Oak and Iron – a heritage centre working to provide insight and training centred on the area’s rich history and present ecosystem services.

Bolderwood
The New Forest National Park, Hampshire

Bolderwood sits within the heart of The New Forest National Park. It is an important site in the context of the history of the New Forest with direct links to the crown. The earliest record of a royal hunting lodge at Bolderwood dates back to 1325 and the reign of King Edward II. A lodge existed on the site in various forms until the 18th century when it was demolished.

Hainault Forest
Redbridge, London

Hainault Forest is the last remaining fragment of a once much larger royal medieval forest – the Forest of Essex. It was a special administrative area created by the monarch to protect their interest in maintaining a supply of venison for the royal table. Hainault was probably declared a forest by Henry I and was first recorded vaguely in 1130 and more specifically in 1221 when it was known as ‘Henehaut’ meaning ‘the community’s wood’.