An ancient woodland, with blankets of wild flowers and a good spot for butterflies. Best time to visit is April-May.
Combs is an Ancient Woodland with a history stretching back to the Doomsday Book where it was recorded as ‘a wood for 16 swine’. The wood was probably reduced to its current size some time between then and 1667 when a survey refers to a thirty-acre wood. In the eighteenth century the wood passed to the Ashburnham family, who also owned Bonny Wood. A map of 1710 shows the outline as it was in 1992, with two of the rides established including the main central ride. The wood was connected to Combs Hall (by 1772) by a formal garden, of which the only remaining fragments are the Prospect Avenue which is a large ride cut through the southern edge of the wood in the 18th century, the pond in the south-west corner and the large pond in the Church Meadow to the west of the wood. 17 hectares in size.
Free
Open at all times