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Date updated: 22/04/2025

Installation of the Brambly Hedge Trail is under way

Five wooden sculptures of characters from the nostalgic children’s books, Brambly Hedge, have been installed in Epping Forest, near to the Epping Forest Visitor Centre at Chingford.

These are the first in a series of 17 wooden sculptures which will form the Epping Forest Brambly Hedge Trail. The Brambly Hedge books were written in the 1980's by local artist and author, Jill Barklem, who lived in the Epping Forest area and based her Brambly Hedge books on the hedgerows and trees found in the Forest. The mice of Brambly Hedge, depicted in this new wooden sculpture trail, are inclusive and each feature their names in braille and a sensory panel containing a natural material.

The remaining 12 sculptures, which have been generously funded by Rural England Prosperity Funding, via Epping Forest District Council, as well as kind donations to our Sculpture Trail campaign, are due to be installed around Connaught Water in March.

A new surface path to be called 'Gloucester Ride', linking the Epping Forest Visitor Centre at Chingford and Connaught Water, is due to be completed later this summer. At this point the Epping Forest Brambly Hedge Trail will be officially launched!

To stay up to date on the trail's progress, please do subscribe to our newsletter, Forest Focus. 

Five wooden sculptures of characters from Brambly Hedge.

Help us fight fly-tipping

Dealing with fly-tips across Epping Forest takes up 10% of our charity's budget every year - hundreds of thousands of pounds that should be spent on conserving the Forest for the benefit of all. 

Visit our web page for more details on how we're combatting this scourge on the landscape, or follow our progress on social media. 

The River Ching Action Plan

The interim report has now been published on the Thames 21 website, showing that ammonia levels are mostly “good”, but phosphate pollution is a serious concern downstream of Whitehall Rd.

A huge thank you to everyone who has helped care for the River Ching by monitoring the 10 sites, you're helping build understanding of the challenges facing the Ching and UK’s rivers generally.

There are still plenty of volunteering opportunities, so please send an email if you’d like to sign up.

Things affecting your visit

Maintenance

  • Rural wood chip collection – Bury Road chip site
  • Tree safety works - Forest-wide
  • Groundworks - Great Gregories
  • Various grass cutting - Forest-wide
  • Annual tree survey - north of the Forest
  • Squirrel survey work - Forest-wide

NB: Contract work is dependent on weather and ground conditions.

General notices

  • Open riding as of 17 April 2025
  • Railway Field closed to public access
  • Please be aware that new sculptures have been installed on the track leading from the Visitors' Centre at Chingford leading toward Connaught Water
  • Our cattle are grazing throughout Epping Forest. You can use this tracker to see their location or find out more on our grazing page
  • You can find things to do in the Forest on our Eventbrite page

Volunteer Tasks

Epping Forest Volunteers

Sunday 27 - Green Ride

Highams Park Snedders

Tuesday 22

Epping Forest Heritage Trust

Green Team
No tasks

Green Team 2
No tasks

Happy Loppers
No tasks

Epping Forest Conservation Volunteers

No tasks

Chairman of the Epping Forest and Commons Committee

Read the monthly updates from the Epping Forest Chairman on our dedicated webpage. 

Forest Focus

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