Rural: Dawn of the sylvan age

In Kent, Sussex, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, private forests are increasingly being opened to the public. Duff Hart-Davis explores a passion for woodland

If ever I owned a wood, I fear I might feel rather curmudgeonly about granting public access. If rights of way ran through the property, I should of course keep them clear, but I tend to think of forests as secret places, to be disturbed by humans as little as possible - so the question of opening the place to all and sundry would take a bit of thought.

Nevertheless, I salute the growing band of owners who make their woods available, because they provide a tremendous amount of enjoyment and instruction. This was particularly evident on Monday, when Julian and Margaret Evans held their fourth woodland open day at Northdown Plantation, their 30- acre block in Hampshire.

A professional forester all his life, Professor Evans described in his book A Wood of Our Own the great delight he felt when he realised his long-term ambition by acquiring Northdown in 1985; and this week he was as infectiously enthusiastic as ever about his private domain. No matter that he has specialised in tropical forestry and worked in 30 countries, among them Papua New Guinea and Ethiopia: in Hampshire he was on his own territory and thrilled to be welcoming 80 guests. They were a high- powered lot, and included several other professors of international repute; yet the occasion was essentially light-hearted, with plenty of children coming to learn and picnic.

A marked footpath led visitors on a tour of 12 way-points, at each of which a notice drew attention to trees or objects of particular interest. At one stop we found a simple weighing device and two short lengths of sycamore branch, one cut 18 months ago, the other two days before. The elder piece was naturally the lighter, but everyone was surprised by the amount of water that had dried out of it: two kilos, or a fifth of its weight. "If you buy firewood in winter," said the sign, "make sure you get seasoned logs."

The excellence of the beech, now over 40 years old, gave rise to much discussion about methods of controlling grey squirrels, which, if not efficiently suppressed, destroy trees by stripping the bark. The answer at Northdown has been Warfarin-laced wheat, deployed in specially-designed hoppers which birds and other rodents cannot tap.

Further on, a notice pointed out that beefsteak fungus had stained the wood of one oak, thus creating what the trade calls "brown oak", specially valued by antique furniture restorers, who use it as a naturally aged timber. Another stop drew attention to the remains of "Jane Austen's yew" - a tree of prodigious antiquity which fell down years ago, but which must have been known to the novelist as she drove in her horse and carriage along the lane from her village of Steventon.

The Evanses open their wood only once a year. But down in the Sussex High Weald, Chris and Anne Yarrow welcome the public to Wilderness Wood on every day of the calendar. He, too, is a professional forester and consultant, and Anne, though she originally studied geography and conservation, has picked up a rich harvest of knowledge along the way.

The Yarrows bought the ancient 61-acre wood in 1980, and four years later moved to a house inside it, so that they live, as Anne puts it, "above the shop". The people of Hadlow Down, the nearest village, are welcome to wander around at no charge - "they use it as their park" - but adults from further afield pay pounds 1.90, with lower fees for pensioners, the disabled, family groups and so on.

The popularity of Wilderness Wood is proved by the numbers who come: 15,000 paying visitors a year, including 3,500 children on school excursions. The atmosphere is pleasantly relaxed: there is never anyone taking money at the entrance, and people are expected to buy tickets at the Barn, a timber-framed structure built by the Yarrows themselves.

Apart from trails, a permanent exhibition and frequent demonstrations of woodland practices, there are numerous events, some of the most popular being the "Castaway" days, on which children aged six-11 make primitive shelters, light camp fires and brew up sausages. One boy was so enthused that he insisted on taking his father back to sleep in the hut he had constructed.

Somehow Mrs Yarrow has found time to edit Exploring Woodlands in the South East, an admirable booklet recently published by the Forestry Trust for Conservation and Education, which gives details of more than 120 woods open to visitors in Kent, Sussex, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight and south London. Basic information is spiced by her own short essays on silvicultural subjects, not least the effects of the 1987 hurricane, and the whole publication reflects the satisfaction which she, her husband, the Evanses and their like derive from sharing their woods with others.

Wilderness Wood, Hadlow Down, Uckfield, East Sussex (01825 830509); `Exploring Woodlands in the South East' costs pounds 2.50 from local bookshops and tourist centres.