Geograph - photograph every grid square

The Woodland Trust owns 29.95ha of Ashenbank Wood, the majority of which was bought in 1984 with a smaller part purchased from Union Railways in 2006. An additional part of Ashenbank remains in private ownership to the south of The Woodland Trust’s land holding.
The underlying geology at Ashenbank Wood is chalk bedrock overlain by Thanet Beds. As a result the soils are principally gravely and free draining with a flat terrain in the north which extends into some undulating shallow dry valleys at the southern end.
The ancient woodland areas at Ashenbank were traditionally managed as coppice with standards with hornbeam and sweet chestnut coppice being worked amongst oak and sweet chestnut standards. There are also examples of ash field maple woodland which would naturally grow here. Ashenbank Wood is well known for its prolific shows of bluebell and wood anemone throughout the site during the spring months.