Once upon a time just after the last Ice Age this woodland was untouched by man.  It would have been full of native trees and plants, huge amounts of decaying wood, fungi, the haunt of wolf, bear and beaver, insects galore and symphonic with birdsong.  The forest stretched for miles in every direction.

Over the centuries man has chopped down the trees and reduced the size of the woodland to the fragment we see today.  He replanted with imported trees for timber, such as beech and conifer, took the decaying wood for firewood to heat his house and burn charcoal and lime, and in the last century felled most of the big trees.  As a result the woodland is now but a shadow of its former self.

In spite of this intervention woodland survives with astonishing beauty and complexity. Some has evidently been here since the retreat of the glaciers and is referred to as Old-Growth Ancient Woodland.  This is now in the process of being restored as a demonstration of how the natural forest functions.  From this is emerging an approach towards woodland care that is harmonious with nature and universally applicable.

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