Woodland photography location guides
Location guides to the woods worth photographing.
A growing set of guides to well-visited woods across the South East, with notes on what to look for, when to go and where the photography is strongest. These are the busy, well-loved places, the ones already on the map. For the quiet woods, you will have to do your own looking.
Hainault Forest, Essex.
Ancient hornbeam pollards and oak over a picturesque lake on the border of Essex and London. Strong year-round, with space to work even on busy days.
Ashridge Estate, Hertfordshire.
Beech-lined avenues and bluebell slopes across a large National Trust estate. At its best early in the morning, before the trails fill.
Epping Forest, Essex.
Twelve square miles of ancient pollards, ponds and changing light. Famous and busy, yet still full of quiet corners once you walk in.
Heartwood Forest, Hertfordshire.
Ancient woodland beside the largest newly planted native forest in England, so old and young trees stand side by side. Good for spring bluebells, and wildflowers in summer.
Burnham Beeches NNR, Buckinghamshire.
Famous for its veteran and ancient beech pollards, some centuries old, a short hop from London. Wood pasture and heathland alongside dense ancient woodland.
Broxbourne Woods NNR, Hertfordshire.
Ancient hornbeam and oak with spring bluebells and wood anemone, and the Purple Emperor in high summer. Quiet trails close to town - it's like entering a different world.
Take it further
The best wood to photograph is often the one nobody else is pointing a camera at.
Your own patch
The best location guide is the one you write yourself.
These are well-known woods, and they are worth your time. But the most personal work usualy comes from somewhere closer and less remarkable: the ordinary wood near home that nobody else is photographing. This free guide is about learning to see that place and to build something out of it that is yours alone.
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