About

Alice Holt is situated on the north-east county boundary of Hampshire, bordering Surrey, some 4 miles south west of Farnham and bisected by the A325 from Farnham to Petersfield at Bucks Horn Oak.

Alice Holt Forest covers an area of 845.4 hectares and provides important landscape value. The woodlands are located within the South Downs National Park and contain a small section of Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) on the north western side.

The forest falls within Natural England's Wealden Greensand National character area typified by an irregular undulating landform with a mix of conifer and broad-leaved woodland, heathland and agriculture.

There is a significant conifer component throughout the blocks including Corsican Pine, Douglas Fir, Scots Pine, Western Hemlock, and Norway Spruce.

Broadleaved species present include, Oak, Beech, Birch and Ash.

Large areas of the Forest are classified as Ancient Woodland some of which is naturally occurring; however the majority is now plantation.

There are a total of 24 heritage features recorded; most notable is a designated scheduled ancient monument listed as a Romano-British kiln site. It is speculated that during Roman times the southern end of Alice Holt was heavily used for pottery manufacture and that in its time the area was equivalent to a modern day Stoke on Trent.

Alice Holt Forest is home to a successful forest centre, receiving 500k plus visits a year. The activities on offer include waymarked walking, cycling and horse-riding, bespoke play features catering to a range of ages, a café, visitor centre, cycle/segway hire and a high ropes course as well as a dedicated outdoor education centre used by 3rd parties.

Objectives

The objectives of management here are to:

• Maintain and increase the native composition of ancient semi-natural woodland.
• Initiate restoration of planted ancient woodland sites to native and honorary native woodland.
• Increase the conservation value of existing habitats and enhance and support the creation of non-wooded semi-natural areas.
• Provide, maintain and enhance where possible the recreational experience of the woodland.
• Maintain and increase the species and age diversity of the woodland.
• Control invasive plant and animal species and reduce their impact across the sites.
• Support the creation and aims of new and current research plots.
• Provide a regular supply of quality timber to support local employment  and local timber processing industries.

What we'll do

Approval has been granted for the operations to run from 28/3/17 – 27/3/27

The species composition will also change from 42% conifer, 47% broadleaf, 8% mixed woodland and 3% permanent open space in 2017 to 93% broadleaf, 4% mixed woodland and 3% permanent open space in 2027.