Our verdict
Small, steep and genuinely pretty rather than a big day out — not suitable for pushchairs or wheelchairs, and the lane gets slippery in winter, so this is one for sturdy shoes. Time it for February snowdrops or spring bluebells for the best of it.
A one-hectare strip of picturesque ancient woodland five minutes' walk from Urchfont village centre, hidden at the end of a sunken lane on steep slopes beside a small stream. Replanted with oak and ash after Dutch elm disease killed most of the original elms in the late 1970s, it now mixes wych elm and hazel with bluebell, pignut, wood anemone and moschatel (‘town hall clock’) on the woodland floor.
Wiltshire Wildlife Trust reserve — free to explore on foot; many are dog-free to protect wildlife.