Please note – there is no longer a ticket system required to visit the reserve, please just sign in upon arrival. The sign in sheet is outside the centre!

Highlights of Parndon Wood

Beautiful scenery, two nature trails, cafe, wildlife spotting hides, den building, bug hunting, arts & crafts area, bug hotel, picnic benches, binocular hire available, story telling area.

Birthday parties, venue hire, amphi theatre.

Plus much more

Thank you to Parndon Wood’s volunteers for making us such a beautiful bug hotel! 💚

Our reserve and cafe are now are open as normal! Please note our viewing hides will remain closed for the foreseeable future.

Please note – dogs are allowed in the reserve but only up to the cafe area. Dogs are not allowed on the trails. Thank you for your understanding.

Monday: Closed
Tuesday: Closed
Wednesday: 11am – 4pm
Thursday: 11am – 4pm
Friday: 11am – 4pm
Saturday: 9am-6pm
Sunday 11am – 4pm

For what’s on see the event calendar below or follow us on social media

Location: Parndon Wood Road, Harlow CM19 4SF.

Contact: 07802237440, ezra.folan@ecco.org.uk

Parndon Wood Café

Our café is wonderfully different; the courtyard vista is a pristine woodland where you can sit in peace with a drink & slice of cake or a ciabatta. Hide from the weather inside and watch birds playing around the pond. Arts and crafts are available in the conservation centre all year round so the kids can get creative while you enjoy the view.

PLEASE NOTE – Ciabattas only available on weekends.

Things to see and do

Take a walk by yourself or with the family & friends and experience our superb ancient woodland. We have several nature trails here that you can explore at your leisure.

During the spring large swaths of the woodland are covered in bluebells and foxgloves. Fallow and Muntjac deer are often being spotted and we have hides that look onto their commonly used trails. Much birdlife calls our woods home.

Species recently sighted/heard include; Buzzards, Jays, Long-tail tits, treecreepers, bull finches, greenwood peckers, nuthatches, greater spotted wood peckers, blue tits, black birds, wrens and kestrels.

Our log piles and leaf litter hold rare species of beetle which are scarce in Essex and our water ways and ponds hold much rare amphibian life.

Our Conservation room holds a number of taxidermy species and a large collection of bones for the public to learn about. There is also a huge number of information posters and books to read.

Hire some binoculars (free of charge) and spend a while sitting quietly in one of our bird hides trying to spot our large range of species. (available all year).

Hire a bug hunting kit (free of charge) and get to grips with our woodlands mini beasts. (available all year).

Arts and crafts (free of charge) we have a huge range of animal templates to colour in, or, create your own master piece with fantastic array of coloured paper and other materials. New* Paint your own birch disk medallion to take home

Enjoy hot drinks and freshly made sandwiches at the cafe while others get creative

No matter what you will find enjoyment here!

Conservation Centre

Our conservation centre has a wonderful class room full of woodland specimens, taxidermy and information posters. It is a fantastic way to learn about the local wildlife and the creatures you may find at Parndon Wood. It is wheel chair accessible and we also have full toilet facilities for public use.

Birthday Parties

We offer a range of birthday packages here at the reserve. You can simply hire our conservation room and put on your own party theme or we can give you access to the reserve and you can enjoy a host of out-door activities.

These include;

Pond dipping (season dependent)
Bug hunting
Den building
Treasure hunt
Natural arts and crafts

Come rain or shine, you’ll have everything you need for your activities, but don’t forget your appropriate clothing! Equipment will be provided for activities as part of the birthday packages. Prices start at £109 for the summer months, for more information or to book, call us on 07802237440 or email ezra.folan@ecco.org.uk.

More information here:

Please note that all rubbish created must be taken with you at the end of the party as we do not have the facilities to dispose of large amounts of waste. Thank you.

Firewood & Charcoal for sale.

Parndon Wood Nature Reserve produces many tonnes of premium quality hornbeam firewood. This firewood comes from our sustainably managed and environmentally friendly coppice scheme. It is processed by hand by our wonderful HCV and Green team volunteers and then sold on to help fund the continual maintenance of our SSSI site.

If you would like to purchase fire wood please contact ezra.folan@ecco.org.uk or call 07802237440 £5 a bag (11 kilos) (Subject to availability).

We have also begun producing our very own charcoal from hornbeam wood, this charcoal is gourmet quality and burns very hot and very long. Our bags are 10£ for 5 kilos.

School visits

Parndon Wood offers a fantastic opportunity for schools to experience the wonders of the great outdoors in a safe environment. With access to our indoor classroom (which can accommodate up to 30 pupils), extensive woodland areas and a number of bird hides, there is a fantastic opportunity to learn about local wildlife here at the reserve.

Our range of activities includes;

Pond dipping
Bug hunting
Nature walks
Foot print hunt
Wildlife watching
Den building
Natural arts and crafts
Making bird feeders
Brass rubbing
Bark rubbing
Nature quizzes

Prices start from £4 per head (students) please contact ezra.folan@ecco.org.uk or call 07802237440 to arrange a visit or ask for more information.

Events calendar Parndon Wood 2020

This calendar will be updated regularly to add more events and to give greater detail. Events will also be posted on all of our social media sites (FB ), so please follow us for all our event news and updates. For more information on events please contact centre manager Ezra on 07802237440

PLEASE NOTE – More information on events, how to book, prices etc can be found on our facebook closer to the time of the event.

About Parndon Wood Nature Reserve

Parndon Wood Nature Reserve, run by ECCO, is officially one of the finest parks in the country. Receiving a sought after Green Flag award, retained in 2018 for the tenth consecutive year. Green Flag Awards recognize and reward the best parks in the country. The Reserve is the first open space in Harlow to be accepted for this status.

Set on the southern outskirts of Harlow, Parndon Wood has been recorded as a woodland for at least 900 years and therefore can be termed as “ancient woodland”. The site was turned into a Local Nature Reserve in 1974 and the reserve was also designated a Special Site for Scientific Interest (SSSI) due to its flora and value as an educational resource. The wood is composed of a canopy of oak tree standards with hornbeam trees growing beneath. These have traditionally been coppiced (cut down to the base and allowed to grow up again) every 10-15 years to make use of the timber. This practice is still carried out today, though more to keep a diversity of habitats within the woodland and increase the number of species to be found.

Parndon Wood has visits from schools, which use the woods to support national curriculum studies and for special events. These are held throughout the year, for example to demonstrate woodland crafts, painting and woodcarving weekends, animal education shows. We also offer discussion meetings about local wildlife issues and volunteer conservation work parties.

Location: Parndon Wood Road, Harlow CM19 4SF

Supporting the maintenance and conservation of Parndon Wood Nature Reserve

Please help to support Parndon Wood Nature Reserve by donating £5.00. Your donation will go towards; Setting up conservation days, supporting essential works and maintaining Parndon Wood nature reserve and its conservation centre to a high standard.

£5.00

Photography

If you’re interested in photography, there are so may inspiring subjects in the reserve. our stunning landscape and hosts of flora and fauna will get you that perfect wildlife shot. You can send your photographs to ezra.folan@ecco.org.uk of you would like an accredited photo to be shared on our social media or in the conservation centre.

Upcoming Events;

Mini Beast Hunt; Search the reserve for the beasts that roam in the leaf litter. Hire a bug hunting kit and guide from the conservation centre and use them to help you capture and identify the mini beasts you find around the reserve! There will also be bug themed arts and crafts in the conservation class room. £1 per bug hunting kit. To book please contact info@ecco.org.uk. To pay, please bring cash on the day.
Once you have captured a bug please release it back to where you found it and put any logs or leaf litter back to their original positions. This event will be re-scheduled for later this year.

Children Bird Watching Day; Bring the kids to learn about birds that live in the woodland. You will get a sticker book to fill in, there will be an educational song birds tape on in the conservation classroom and lots of bird themed arts and crafts to do. We also have a select number of children’s binoculars, but these are very limited in number! £2 per child (this includes a sticker book and access the arts and crafts). No Need to book! This event will be scheduled again for later this year.

Nordic Walking; Parndon wood has welcomed the Nordic walkers from Naturally attuned in 2018 please visit https://www.facebook.com/naturallyattuned for dates and more information.

Friday Night Bat Walks for 2019; Learn about the different bat species at the reserve with an expert talk from the Essex Bat Group. Use a bat detector on a guided walk around the reserve to discover the different species and tune into their calls. PLEASE NOTE – THERE ARE NO SCHEDULED BAT WALKS FOR 2020 DUE TO COVID.

For more information on upcoming events please contact us directly at ezra.folan@ecco.org.uk or call 07802237440

Parndon Wood Nature Reserve (SSSI)