Rocky Plantation
Location
OS Map Reference
SK 492116 (Sheet 129)
Know before you go
Entry fee
The reserve is open to Wildlife Trust and National Trust members only.Parking information
Park on the roadside verge next to the reserve, taking care not to obstruct the traffic.Access
The reserve is 1km northeast of Markfield and 1.5km southeast of Copt Oak, on Priory Lane. From Markfield, take the Copt Oak road and turn right approximately 200 m after crossing the A511. The reserve is 1km along Priory Lane on the left.
Dogs
When to visit
Opening times
Always open to membersBest time to visit
AutumnAbout the reserve
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Managed on behalf of the National Trust, this tiny mixed woodland is the perfect place to indulge in a spot of tree hugging – what’s the oldest tree you can find? Listen out for drumming woodpeckers and calling nuthatches or pop a sweet blackberry in your mouth in autumn. This tiny woodland is rich in birdlife, with the usual woodland species making a home here. The reserve was probably used as rough grazing until the 1880s when it was planted with oak, and there are now some excellent examples of sessile oaks over a century old! It was left to the National Trust by its owner, the late Charles Cliffe Jones. The lower storeys are dominated by bracken, creeping softgrass and bramble, which can strangle out other plants – but this does mean that blackberries are plentiful in the autumn. A few patches of wood-sorrel and greater stitchwort do occur, as does the scarce climbing corydalis. In the autumn, you can also spot a variety of different fungi. |