Oxhey Woods Local Nature Reserve

Easy Access Welcome to Oxhey Woods How to get to Oxhey Woods LNR Sculpture Trail Watford Oxhey At almost 100 hectares, Oxhey Woods is the R iver Colne d R Hayling Rd ng largest Local Nature Reserve (LNR) in Three yli Ha S d P Carpenders R a Rivers District. r y n ur sforth Ln e Park b d Go s t t s y e w W L i a c k n e R A circular trail runs through the southern o a Northern rive d ey D Woodland Oxh B e 4 woodland. It is suitable for families with young Moor iv r 5 D 4 South Park y 2 e e n h a x Oxhey children, people with limited mobility and th L or O Central w A h 4 c 1 Woodland t 2 wheel chair users. a 5 B L ittle ey Lane s Prestwick R Oxh od o o a W d Along the route you will find a series of sculptures, e B Northwood h 4 T 5 the work of several artists, made with natural Headquarters' 42 Southern materials and locally sourced wood. Woodland We hope you enjoy your journey around this fantastic woodland! Northwood Pinner The Route: By Road: There is a car park in the southern part of the woods at the • Starts and finishes at the car park. junction of Prestwick Road and Oxhey Drive. • Easy 1km circuit with regular rest stops and By Bus: site interpretation. There are regular buses along Prestwick Road, Sandy Lane and Oxhey Drive. Contact Traveline on 0871 2002233 • The path is a minimum of 1.5m width and 2m or www.intalink.org.uk along most of the route. By Rail: • Recommended direction for wheelchair use: Oxhey Woods are a 15 minute walk from Carpenders Park clockwise Station. Turn left out of the station car park and take the next right onto Oxhey Drive. Continue up Oxhey Drive • Height restriction on entry to carpark: 1.9m until you reach the woods. • RADAR key access for larger mobility vehicles. Oxhey Woods LNR is owned and managed by Three Rivers District Council A 1 km circular trail featuring a Tel: 01923 776611 or www.threerivers.gov.uk series of exciting sculptures The Countryside Management Service works with communities across Hertfordshire to help them care for and enjoy the environment. Tel: 01462 459 395 or www.hertslink.org/cms Oxhey Woods Local Nature Reserve A trail of discovery 4 The Artists: Moving along the path can you discover a familiar Daniel Cordell for children scene from your home which looks out of place Dan is a local artist instinctively drawn to here in the woodland? Why not sit down and see wood and specialises in large-scale green what’s on the box? wood carving. His tool of choice is the Someone has been chainsaw, though he may use, adapt or make other tools for the job in hand. 5 Dan studied at fine art sculpture at Loughborough University busy creating exciting and since 2003 has produced sculpture from his studio in Keep walking till you discover a piece of sculpture Hertfordshire. He also travels the globe participating in that makes music. Search around for a stick and sculptures, use the strike the wooden keys to make some sounds. competitions, symposia and charity carving events. following clues to Will Embliss Will studied early woodwind instrument find them all! 6 making at the London College of Furniture We are near the end of the trail now – can you and has been making tuned percussion discover the final sculpture? It is also carved in instruments since learning to play the balafon wood and has buildings that look like little houses. in Senegal in the 1980’s. More recently he I wonder who might live here? If you look closely, has been producing public art and making instruments 1 can you see all the little holes and gaps which are for schools and playgrounds. perfect homes for creepy crawlies? Moving from the car park to the picnic area, look Will also performs and composes music and plays Trumpet high into the trees to find our largest land insect. & Valve Trombone. He was the founder member of the Do you know what it’s called? Bollywood Brass Band, Crocodile Style and Zubop, and also plays with other bands and musicians. We hope you enjoyed your visit to the sculpture 2 trail and discovered lots of exciting new things. The Treepirates Walk under the arch and down the sloping path Why not tell your friends and family about them The Treepirates work with wood in all its to find our most common amphibian – which is and encourage them to come along… myriad forms, but mostly recycled timber an animal that lives in and out of water. see you soon! which is worked with chainsaws or chisels, What do you think it is? to create individual expressions of the You can find out more about the trail and upload ‘good in the wood’. pictures of your visit on facebook: As a collective, they draw satisfaction from giving dead 3 trees a new lease of life and making them the focus of a local community. As individual artists in their own right, Walk on to find a sculpture you can look through the Treepirates pride themselves on being the largest www.facebook.com/OxheyWoodsSculptureTrail and that frames a lovely woodland scene. Can you collective of its kind in England, if not the world! put yourself in the picture? Perhaps you can have your photo taken? To discover more about the trail, scan here: ‘Stag Beetle’ 1 by The Tree Pirates Suspended high in a large 2 ‘Entrance Arch’ oak tree, the impressive by Dan Cordell stag beetle is our largest Access the trail through land-living insect. ‘Frog’ a sturdy wooden arch 3 by The Tree Pirates Trees play a very constructed from local important role in Oak. The artist has made Resting in the middle of the pond a frog, carved supporting wildlife, use of the natural curve of by chainsaw, illustrates the variety of wildlife to particularly oaks, which a branch, which has been be found in Oxhey Woods such as this amphibian provide food and a home split and fastened together which lives in and out of water. to more than 400 species to create an attractive of insect. shape and pleasing symmetry. The carvings on the front of the arch were interpreted from drawings made by local school children of some of the wildlife found in the woodland. You are here Car Park 2 ‘What a Picture’ 4 by Dan Cordell ‘Community’ 7 by Dan Cordell 1 3 R h 7 o d o d e n d ro n This finely carved W a sculpture frames lk just one of countless 4 beautiful woodland views that can be enjoyed along the trail. This sculpture illustrates that The frame features the people and nature are all part of attractive shapes and a ‘one earth’ community and that forms of leaves and we all share the same space and seeds that can be found resources! in woodland. Carved from a single piece of oak, its more than just a piece of art to 6 be admired. Look closely and you will see it also serves as home for many insects, with lots of nooks © Crown copyright and database and crannies for a variety of bugs rights 2012 Ordnance Survey 100019606 ‘Living Room’ to live in. 5 by Dan Cordell 5 This interesting sculpture provides an image of something 6 ‘Xylofence’ very familiar to us; a by Will Embliss living room scene set in the very unusual This instrument provides surroundings of the an opportunity for you to woodland. experiment with sound in Oxhey Woods. Made The artist carved the from Sweet Chestnut sculpture from locally trees harvested in Oxhey sourced Oak with his Woods, it was made for preferred tool, the playing, so don’t hold back chainsaw, using other – find a stick and create tools to give a smooth some sounds. finish..

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