Epping Forest

Epping was a royal forest where commoners held rights to lop wood for fuel, and through the nineteenth century landowners enclosed piece after piece until the City of London Corporation, which had bought a small holding, sued on behalf of the commoners and won in 1874; the Epping Forest Act of 1878 made the Corporation conservator with a duty to keep it unenclosed and natural forever, and Queen Victoria dedicated it to the public in 1882. The centuries of lopping produced pollarded beech and hornbeam with thick low trunks and multiple stems, which is the forest's characteristic look. Cattle graze parts of it. Two Iron Age hillforts, Ambresbury Banks and Loughton Camp, lie within the trees, and the Queen Elizabeth Hunting Lodge of 1543 stands at Chingford.

What you actually see

• The pollarded beeches - thick low trunks with multiple stems from centuries of lopping.
• The hillforts - Ambresbury Banks and Loughton Camp under the trees.
• The Hunting Lodge - a timber-framed Tudor building of 1543 at Chingford.
• The grazing cattle - longhorns keeping the wood-pasture open.

When to go

April to June for bluebells and fresh leaf, September to November for fungi and autumn colour, which the forest is known for. Winter shows the pollard shapes best. Weekends bring heavy use near the car parks.

Honest expectations

The forest is crossed by major roads including the M25 and the noise carries. Paths are muddy for much of the year. It has a long association with crime and body disposal, which colours its local reputation. Navigation without a map is difficult.

Nearby

Chingford and Loughton are on the edges; the Lee Valley lies west.