Map of What You'll See There

click photo to zoom
watercolor

Yellow = Boundary

White = Footpath from Braunston

Blue = Bridleway

The pale blue bridleway crosses the wood near the south-east border. This is part of an ancient Green Lane joining Braunston with Launde to the south. As the brideway enters Hebe’s Wood from the north, the picture shows it going through a tree-lined path (still known as Wood Lane) before opening out into the field. Just before the bridleway leaves the Wood at the south edge it passes one of the four ponds (you can’t see any of these from above as they are covered by a tree canopy.)

The white footpath also comes up from Braunston across the fields. It allows the walker to see all the fields, the plantation and one of the ponds. It enters the wood across a narrow footbridge, through the eastern field, and enters the plantation for a while. It crosses the other two fields and skirts a pond just before leaving the wood.

What a picture!

The photo shows the three very different parts of Hebe’s Wood:

1. Bushy Wood. This is in the middle of the dark green area on the north-west side of the picture. It is a .7 hectare fragment of ancient semi-natural woodland and has been traditionally managed as coppice, but this regime ceased probably in the 19^th century. The woodlands have developed into high forest
2. Plantation. Surrounding Bushy Wood, with the footpath crossing the south-east corner, 3.7ha was planted in 1994 as a native broad leaf plantation
3. 3 Fields. 12.1ha was agricultural land comprising 3 fields, two of which were pasture land and the largest, most easterly one, was cultivated. They have now been left untouched for at least the last 10 years and are reverting to natural woodland.

Hebe’s Wood is surrounded by species-rich hedges. The hedge on the north side is of particular interest as it marks the ancient boundary between the parish of Braunston and Leighfield Forest.