Things to see and do at Cobham Wood

Two women walking along a footpath surrounded by bare trees in winter. — Visitors walking at Cobham Wood | © National Trust Images/John Miller

All year round at Cobham Wood you can get an idea of what lowland Britain looked like in pre-historic times, as well as discovering some veteran trees and a diverse range of wildlife. Take a look at what you might find on a visit here.

A special site

Discover this special site set within the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). Covering almost 190 acres, Cobham Wood is also a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). It is one of the very few ancient wood pastures still retaining its full structure of open grassland and mature trees.

Views

Enjoy the spectacular views of the surrounding landscape and discover the ongoing management of the woods by the ranger and his team. This work will extend the natural area where we encourage you to walk freely, picnic and enjoy this unique site.

Trees in the ancient oak woodland at Shaugh Bridge, Devon — Ancient oaks in the woodland provide a habitat for wildlife | © National Trust Images/Mel Peters

Veteran trees

The lower parkland has a more acidic soil, where you will find many ancient oaks. A veteran oak tree can support up to 400 species of flora and fauna. On higher ground, where the chalk is covered by a clay cap, you will find sweet chestnuts, with their spiralled bark, and pollarded hornbeams.

Pollarding entails pruning the upper part of the tree to produce a dense head of branches. This protects the hornbeam buds from the grazing deer and provides wood for use on the estate and as fodder for grazing animals in winter.

Prime habitat

If you look at the area behind the Mausoleum (not National Trust), you can see how the woodland looked before the conservation programme. It is choked with a dense mass of smaller trees and undergrowth, providing a much poorer habitat for wildlife.

The wood pasture and parkland are an extremely important habitat for mosses, lichens, fungi and invertebrates, including our largest beetle, the stag beetle. This beetle breeds in rotten timber in tree stumps and beefsteak fungus, the large bracket fungus found on oak trees.

Highland cow amongst bracken at Cobham Wood, Kent — Highland cow amongst bracken at Cobham Wood | © National Trust Images/Jo Hatcher

Supporting wildlife

Wood pasture and parkland is a prime habitat for owls and bats, with species such as the noctule bat roosting in the cavities of ageing trees. Standing dead timber is a particularly good habitat, and one such tree stands to the right of a hornbeam opposite the Darnley Mausoleum. These trees are also very important for woodland birds such as greater spotted woodpeckers, tree creepers and nuthatches.

Grazing cattle

Highland cattle were historically grazed in Cobham Park and have been introduced to help restore the woodland pasture, enabling the mosaic of grasses, herbaceous plants and scrub, which are characteristic of this important environment.