Visitors to the Woodland Trust's Hargate Forest, on the southern edge of Tunbridge Wells, can now find out more about the site through new interpretation boards and ornamental tree grilles.
A Welcome Board and Site Entry Board, at the main entrance from Broadwater Down, explore some of the Forest's history and identify the two waymarked trails around the site: the one-mile, surfaced, buggy-friendly Green Route, and two-mile, unsurfaced Red Route.
But the highlight is the ornamental tree grilles installed around new specimen tree planting on the Old Carriageway, on the Forest's eastern boundary. The decorative iron work of the grilles explores either the wildlife that might be seen on site, or interprets elements of the site's history - including the Wealden Iron Industry and the Carriageway's Victorian connection between Eridge Park and the local church of St Mark's.
The local community, through the development of the Friends of Hargate Forest, has been heavily engaged in the production of the interpretation. Children from nearby Oakley Special School also designed the wildlife tree grilles.
Find out more about visiting Hargate Forest
Check our interactive map to find other local places to visit
The forest interpretation at Hargate was undertaken as part of the Weald Forest Ridge Landscape Partnership Scheme, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund.