It was donated to the Essex Wildlife Trust by Aubrey Buxton and his wife in 1976.

[1] The site was previously a park for Norman House.

It is woodland on a sandy and gravel soil, with meadows and six man-made ponds.

Grassland plants include cowslips, wild strawberries and common spotted orchids.

There are birds such as nuthatches and woodpeckers, and many species of butterfly.