West Kent Downs Countryside Trust

The Leisure Plots are situated in Cobham Woods, not far from the Mausoleum. They comprise some 110 acres of woodland, which is in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and form part of a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

In the early 1970s this small area was sold off in plots to people seeking a place where they could enjoy peace and fresh air in a secluded rural setting. At the time there were some 90 owners, most of whom owned less than ½ an acre of land. Nowadays few of the owners use their plots, as they cannot put up any permanent structures and there is no mains water or sanitation.

The result of this is that many of the plots have fallen into disuse, not being managed, becoming overgrown and neglected.  West Kent Downs Countryside Trust would like to restore this area of woodland to its natural state.

Map of the Leisure Plots

Progress so far

In late 2005 we were left six plots in the will of the late William Henry Hamilton, Jnr, and with this encouraging start we have now progressed with the purchase of further plots. With the assistance of the Rail Link Countryside Initiative and the Kent Downs AONB Sustainable Development Fund we now have a total of 12 plots.

In addition we are now nearing completion on the Orchard Plots formerly owned by Mr. Derkacz and have made contact with Darling Land, the owners of the bulk of the Leisure Plot area. The former is being funded by a grant from RLCI for c.50%, with the balance being provided from Trust Funds.

You will have seen from the latest Newsletter that we have opened a fund to help us provide match funding for Leisure Plot purchases - we hope you will feel able to give generously to support our efforts.

We would like to stress that there is no commercial benefit to the Trust in purchasing any of the plots: our aim is simply to manage the woodland in a sensitive way, to enable everyone to enjoy it.

If you would like to help in this work we would love to see you at one of our fund-raising events, "task days", or even better, join the Trust and help us to restore and manage the Leisure Plots.

Do visit our Leisure Plots soon, so you can see for yourself what is there now, and what we can achieve with proper management of this beautiful woodland area.