Various Epping Forest Walking Routes

Walks And Walking – Essex Walks – A Family Walk In Epping Forest

We managed to get some of the family together for a nice walk in Epping Forest at the weekend. I was under strict orders not to prepare a walking route and despite my many requests to go and find the Deer I had to go with the family flow with a more random walk amongst the ancient woodlands.

It was quite a relaxed stroll from High Beach heading directly south opposite the Kings Oak pub across the plain and then down in to the forest, circling round to the west and back up and around by the top of the visitors centre covering about 2.6 miles and taking exactly an hour. Here is the walk in photographs:

Walks And Walking – Essex Walks – Epping Forest – High Beach – Fashion shoot for The North Face

Walks And Walking – Essex Walks – Epping Forest – High Beach

Walks And Walking – Essex Walks – Epping Forest – High Beach – Walking down into the forest

Walks And Walking – Essex Walks – Epping Forest – High Beach – Walking amongst the shadows in the trees

Walks And Walking – Essex Walks – Epping Forest – High Beach – The bivouac capital of the world

Walks And Walking – Essex Walks – Epping Forest – High Beach – All smiles at the end

Easy Short Walks

Easy walks that are suitable for all of the family, mostly up to 5 miles which should take a leisurely 2 to 3 hours to complete. Epping Forest can be quite muddy so it is advisable to wear a good pair of walking boots or waterproof walking shoes. Facilities can be quite limited in Epping Forest with High Beach being the most central location for refreshments and toilet facilities. For more information about Epping Forest visit their official website here.

Knighton Wood and Lords Bushes Walk
An easy 1 mile walk suitable for all of the family and small children through this small island of Epping Forest, can easily be extended by an extra few miles if required.

The Ditches Epping Forest
An easy, but very muddy, walk from The Ditches car park to the Epping Forest Deer Sanctuary and back.

Gunpowder Park Walk
A simple 2 mile circular walk in Gunpowder Park offers leisurely walking routes in an area of conservation near Waltham Abbey.

South Woodford Walk
An easy 3 mile linear walk from South Woodford to Chingford following the Epping Forest Centenary Walk.

Willow Trail Walk
A simple 3 mile classic family circular walk following The Willow Trail, one of the official Epping Forest walking routes, around Connaught Water.

Epping Forest Family Walk
A 3 mile family stroll randomly around the ancient woodlands of Epping Forest from High Beach.

Holly Trail Walk
A simple 3 mile classic family circular walk following The Holly Trail, one of the official Epping Forest walking routes, starting in Chingford.

Chestnut Trail Walk
A simple 4 mile classic family circular walk following The Chestnut Trail, one of the official Epping Forest walking routes, starting in Wanstead.

Wanstead Park Walk
A gentle 4 mile circular walk in Wanstead Park, lakes and woodland on well maintained walking routes, tracks and paths.

Gifford Wood Walk
A good 5 mile official Epping Forest walking route from Lodge Road to Copped Hall, Upshire and Warlies Park to the new Gifford Wood and back.

Family Favourite Walk
An awesome 5 mile circular walk from Chingford taking in all of the best sights of this part of Epping Forest. Following the main walking routes this walk starts at Chingford Plain and takes you to High Beach, Loughton Camp, Kate’s Cellar, Strawberry Hill Ponds, Connaught Water and the Queen Elizabeth Hunting Lodge.

Epping Forest Walking Routes

Epping Forest

Epping Forest was originally reserved as a royal hunting ground. That’s a hunting ground for royals to hunt, not to actually hunt the royals!

Unless you zig zag around the forest, it is quite a stretch to get more than a 2 hour walk out of the forest unless you follow the The Forest Way which starts in Loughton and heads straight upwards to Hatfield, covering a good 25 miles.

Most are short walks, mostly of about an hour or 2 in duration and are designed for non-specialist strollers rather than for purposeful and experienced ramblers, but well fitting footwear is still called for. A walking pole is useful for beating down the odd bramble, or to assist anyone a bit unsteady, but not essential. If you are heading in to the forest glades then some decent walking gear is recommended as getting tagged by brambles is a distinct possibility.

Queen Elizabeth I used to hunt there, hence the aptly named Queen Elizabeth I Hunting Lodge, which is now a museum dedicated to the forest. However, it’s histroy dates back much further than that with the remains of a Roman settlement at Loughton Camp. On many occasions I have spotted fallow and the smaller muntjac deers in all parts of the forest. Muntjac Deers are related to the dark fallow deer and were introduced by James I in 1612. However, they have since become a pest of the farmers in the area.

Queen Victoria once said “It gives me the greatest satisfaction to dedicate this beautiful forest to the use and enjoyment of my people for all time” as she rode in an open carriage from Connaught Water along Fairmead Bottom to High Beach to the jubilant crowds. At the Epping Forest Conservation Centre, a trail leads you through an ancient landscape of coppiced and pollarded trees, identifiable by their massive crowns.

In local history, it was the opportunity the Forest gave for grazing animals and supplying fuel that gave Loughton the kernel of its economy for perhaps a thousand years.Epping Forest has never been enclosed or cultivated, but it has been managed by man throughout its written history. Since Norman times, it has been a wood pasture which is essentially the maintenance of an area for the twin purposes of providing timber and grazing, and implies a mixture of grassland and treed areas.

Initially, there were far more open grassy areas of the forest but over the last 100 years there has been a great decline in grazing. Coupled with the cessation of pollarding means that the forest has become much more dense, cutting off the light below the trees that enabled the growth of many species, particularly of wild flowers, that the Victorians saw as common, but which are now rare or extinct in our Forest.