The Fairlop Oak, Hainault Forest', 1816. (Picture Library Museum of London)
The Woodland Trust is the UK's leading woodland conservation charity dedicated solely to the protection of our native woodland heritage.
Charlotte Uhlenbroek: Hainault Forest, Romford, Essex
Situated at the end of the Central tube line, Londoners don’t even need to get in their cars to visit Hainault.

The forest is the last fragment of a once much larger medieval woodland that was declared a specially protected forest by Henry I around 1130, principally to supply venison for the royal table. Nightingales make their home here, as do muntjac, and the geese and swans which rule the lake.
The wood is only eight miles from the M25 and four miles from the M11, with car parks on the main access route from Romford road (A112). There’s a three-mile circular trail and a path by the lake which is suitable for wheelchair users.
Dale Winton: Hoddesdon Park Wood, Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire
Hoddesdon Park Wood is a superb ancient woodland which, despite being so close to the urban sprawl of London’s northern suburbs, has a surprisingly rural feel.
Just a few miles south of Hertford and still boasting one of the largest and most northerly expanses of sessile oak and hornbeam, it’s of European importance. Full of mosses and ferns, and flowers in spring, it has a long and deep history.
Walkers can still see signs of coppicing practised for centuries to supply the estate and local villagers. There is also an ancient moated site, dating back to around the 13th century. The wood is best accessed via the Broxbourne Woods NNR Trail.