Shorne Wood Country Park 4.33

Shorne Wood Country Park is in Gravesend, Kent, England. It was once part of a large estate and then later passed to the council to be used as a country park.HistoryThis park was once part of the large Cobham Hall Estate. The main entrance to the Hall, leads through the park with various other carriage rides around the estate. Then from the 1930s to the 1970s, part of the estate (was leased by Lord Darnley) was used for clay extraction (by a cement company), using clay pit beneath the ancient woodland. Then in 1987, the 288acre of land, came under ownership of Kent County Council, then with the help of Gravesham Borough Council, it was turned into a country park and then opened to the public.FacilitiesIt has large areas of ancient woodland and heathland meadows. The former claypit is being returned to nature (with woodland and wetland areas). The wetland ponds have many species of dragonflies, which breed in the park. A large part of the park is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) with the designation Shorne and Ashenbank Woods.The park also is acreddited with a Green Flag Award by Natural England.The country park has many colour-coded waymarked paths around the country park. These include; Purple Route - Easy 1.4 km, Red Route - Medium, Explorer Trail - 3.7miles, Heritage Trail - 2.2miles. A longer trail (the Darmley Trail - 6.2miles) has also been developed taking area outside of Shorne Wood park, including Darnley Mausoleum, Jeskyns (a one-time farm of 360 acres (147 ha), which is being turned into a greenspace area and country park by the Forestry Commission ), Ranscombe Farm and Cobham Hall.