England's Inaccessible Woodland

England has 1.3 million hectares of woodland, yet almost three quarters of that is inaccessible, with 18 counties having access to less than 25% of their woods.

Dappled evening light in a bluebell glade. The smell of resinous pine rising with the first of the day's sun. Gentle rain filtered through a canopy of dense leaves. Temperate woodlands can impress such vividness upon our imagination. Yet, in many cases, imagining these places is all we have. Not so long ago, woodland covered large parts of England, providing rich habitat for wildlife and food and fuel for communities who held it in common. Over the centuries our woodlands have been largely lost from this land, and almost three quarters of that which remains we are denied access to.

Across England 71% of our woodland is out of bounds to the public - where neither footpath, nor access land, provide a right to experience these quintessentially magic places.

Removing woodland areas which either contain a footpath, or overlap to any extent with land designated under the Countryside and Rights of Way [CRoW] Act (2000), we can look across the counties of England and Wales to see exactly how much of their woodland cover is accessible. The picture on the county-level in some cases is shocking.

Here in Devon, for example, where we have over 90,000 hectares of woodland covering 13% of the county, 84% is inaccessible to the public. In Norfolk, 87% of woodland is inaccessible and 80% of Cambridgeshire's woodlands are out of bounds.