King’s Wood

As an ancient woodland site, King’s Wood is home to a diverse range of flora and fauna.

The main species of tree include Sweet Chestnut, Corsican Pine and Douglas Fir. To enjoy the best of the forest you may wish to take our Beech walk and see the unusual sculptures dotted around.

The Forest car park is well positioned for picnic areas and the children’s play area. Designed for younger children, a number of unusual play structures have been created to represent creatures of the forest.

Kings Wood is about a mile north-east of High Wycombe, between Totteridge and Tylers Green. In 1984 the King’s Wood Conservation Group recorded over 200 species of flowering plant and 30 species of bird in the wood. This is unusually high for urban woodland with high recreational pressure making this a special haven for wildlife.

 

This diversity is partly due to the varied history of human usage. In the past bodgers almost certainly worked in wood, making the turned parts (ie the legs, stretchers and spindles) of chairs which were assembled in High Wycombe and supplied the Windsor chair industry.

The bodgers were skilled craftsmen who called themselves ‘turners’. It was the workers who assembled the different parts of chairs in High Wycombe’s factories who named the turners ‘bodgers’ for only doing part of the job. Over the last 150 years the term “bodger” has completed changed its meaning.

Kings Wood is just beyond the garden fence for many people.

Visit the Wycombe Museum to learn more about the history of the chair making industry.

Postcode

Nearest station High Wycombe (30 minutes' walk). Buses run along A404 (5 minutes' walk). Car park.

Accessibility/terrain/walk info

Grid Reference

SU891941