Following pressure from local people, Penn Wood's former owner……….. .

Penn Wood, one of Britain's last surviving areas of ancient woodland, with 432 acres of mixed trees as well as grassland, is in a place of outstanding natural beauty. The wood has a record of public usage, stretching back through recorded history, but recently, the menace of 'development and improvement' threatened its survival. In a region already well-endowed with golf courses, the owner submitted plans for yet another 18-hole course. However, this angered local residents. They put up so much opposition to the plans that they were turned down by the Environment Secretary. Frustrated by the strength of the opposition he was receiving, the landowner eventually sold up, and the land was bought by the Woodland Trust, which will preserve the whole site as a prime wildlife habitat.