Hornbeam is widespread, Avon Wildlife Trust also have a nice description click here, with these are birch, and frequent Turkey oak. Some English oak can also be found. These are all mature including the hornbeam which would previously have been coppiced. There is some ash in the north east area, these could be harvested for firewood or left for wildlife, woodpeckers etc.

Classified as semi-natural ancient woodland within the County Wildlife Site; the details of the conservation site can be seen by clicking here CWS .

Obviously bluebells are the main feature, but a bench has been placed for quiet contemplation.

Access is directly off the pblic highway, Pluckley Road, through a wooden field gate.

The woodland is covered by an article iv click here for details which does remove some permitted development rights. There is a TPO (tree preservation order) on these woods as with most ancient woodland sites in Kent. A management plan is in place with an associated felling licence. Copy available on request.

The purchasers of the woodland will be asked to enter into a covenant to ensure the quiet and peaceful enjoyment of adjoining woodlands and meadows.

Getting to know the wood, perhaps marking the boundaries of the bluebells to see if they move in future years, collecting firewood, stacking fallen timber for habitat piles. Sitting and quietly observing and watching. Recording the dawn chorus to identify the bird population.

The Victorians were very busy, had lots of money and lots of workers. The Dering Estate spread far and wide, an indication of this can be seen in the local houses, ragstone built with arched windows. They made great effords to lay extensive rides and drives through the woods mostly for their recreation (hunting or carriage driving). Always in straight lines and often radiating from a central point. They were keen on the Turkey oak, fast growing but of little use. During WW11 Italian prisoners of war did much to help the surface drainage forming ditches throughout the woods.

For the Derings this had meant they were the recipients from the original family of John de Plukele, who had received the estate from the Church post Conquest, and the Surrendens, who succeeded the de Plukele family.