Big tree love in Savernake Forest last weekend! 😍 We beheld mighty oaks and beeches, heard a cuckoo, listened to bracken drying, found an arboretum, learnt what a beech seedling looks like, and spotted some actual dinosaurs! 🦕

Before WWII, Savernake Forest in Wiltshire was one of the largest areas of virgin forest land in England, having a continuous wooded area greater than the New Forest. Back in the 12th century, it covered an area of some 390 square kilometres, whereas now it is only about 18 sq km!

A remnant of primeval forest, it became a royal forest soon after the Norman Conquest. Today, the whole area is marked as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and most of the Forest is designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Made up primarily of oak, beech and birch, Savernake is dotted with super impressive ancient oak trees, some of them dating back 700 years (or 800 by our tried-and-tested arm measuring method 😁).

Those oaks are the few that were spared the axe. In the past, the Navy required a large amount of timber which Savernake helped provide. The forest also supplied timber for the repairs of the castle and town of nearby Marlborough.

🌟 FUN FACT: King Athelstan’s Charter of 934AD lists crofts lying ‘alongside the woodland called Safernoc’. There are also references to Safernac (in 1156) and Savernak (in 1275). The name is probably derived from ‘a river name identical with the Severn’. Other possibilities include ‘sweet fern’, gravel or hare. All forms use ‘oc’, ‘ac’ and ‘uk’, the old names for oak 🌳 🌳 🌳.