Savernake Forest is located south of Marlborough. It is about 4,500 acres but was much larger in former times.
The first written mention of the woodland was in AD 934 in the written records of King Athelstan. After the Norman invasion it was established as a royal forest in the 12th C. The land was put into the care of Richard Esturmy and since then it has been passed down from father to son (or in a few cases, daughter) for 31 generations. It has never been bought or sold in a thousand years and it is the only ancient forest in Britain that is still in private hands.
Since 1939 the timber of the forest has been managed by Forestry England on a 999-year lease. The private status of Savernake Forest is maintained by shutting the forest to the public one day per year. I visited it one of the other 364 days (autumn 2023) and captured a few images.
Many of the old oak trees are legendary and sometimes you can imagine that the ancient trees are sculptured like a bull or an eagle or something similar.
