Hainault Forest Country Park

Hainault Forest was a large wooded area of Essex and Greater London, mostly destroyed after 1851, and public outrage at that destruction was an important catalyst for the modern environmental movement; less than a tenth of the original forest survives, much of it managed as this country park, and a small area was saved for public use in 1903. Published figures for the country park's area differ — 136 hectares (340 acres) and 135.31 hectares (334.4 acres), the second given alongside a Site of Special Scientific Interest — and the adjoining Hainault Lodge Nature Reserve covers 6.8 hectares (17 acres). A £7m restoration rebuilt the Victorian barns as an events space, an interactive visitor hub, workshop units and the 1856 Cafe, with a new outdoor adventure play area. A Woodhenge behind the lake carries wood sculptures by local artists on a sculpture trail. No station stands within walking distance of the visitor centre: Grange Hill, in Essex, is about 3.0 km from it and Hainault about 3.2 km, and the nearest bus stops are on Fowler Road about 840 m away, on the 247 and the 362.