The area includes a trading estate, on the site of the former Royal Navy Cordite Factory, Holton Heath, (RNCF).
East of the trading estate is the Holton Heath National Nature Reserve, currently closed to the public.
This consisted of creating several "Starfish" decoy sites in the village of Arne, three miles to the south east, containing flammable material that would be ignited to give the appearance of a burning building.
This was put to the test on the night of 3–4 June 1942 when bombers dropped hundreds of bombs on the decoy site, practically destroying the village of Arne, but leaving the Cordite Factory unscathed.
[4] The cordite factory at Holton Heath closed after the Second World War and the site became an Admiralty research establishment.