Things to see and do at Hatfield Forest

The Shell House

A lakeside picnic shelter was built by the Houblon family during the Georgian period. They would make excursions through the Forest to entertain their guests. The Houblons' teenage daughter Laetitia decorated the building with exotic shells, believed to have come from the West Indies. Look out for the shell peacock above the Shell House door. Its breast is made from a fossil from the Cretaceous period.

The Shell House went under much needed restoration work in 2023.

Flora and fauna at Hatfield Forest

The Forest is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a National Nature Reserve. The Forest's coppices and wood pasture are now extremely rare, providing a refuge for many unusual and specialised wildlife, including:

• Buttercups - In May and June, the wood pastures are transformed into a golden sea of these loved wildflowers.

• Fungi - Two very important species of fungi have recently turned up at Hatfield Forest. Neoboletus xanthopus and Inocybe cervicolor are so rare they had to be verified using DNA sampling. If you're exploring for fungi, please remember to leave them behind.

• Butterflies - Thanks to coppice restoration and ride management, a growing number of butterfly species can be found in the forest. They include speckled wood, common blue, comma, ringlet, purple hairstreak and small tortoiseshell. Recent species rediscovered include the silver-washed fritillary, white admiral and purple emperor.

• Beetles - The veteran trees and deadwood support many rare beetles, including lesser stag, rhinoceros and longhorn beetles. Hatfield Forest is in the top 10 sites in England for these deadwood specialists, so standing and fallen deadwood is kept in place wherever possible.

• Dragonflies - These are commonly seen across the lake on warm summer days.  Species include the large emperor dragonfly, southern hawker and other smaller damselflies.

• Birds - The variety of habitats attracts many birds to the Forest. Resident species include tiny woodland birds such as linnets through to the swans on the lake.  Look out for moorhen, robin, goldcrest, greenfinch, yellowhammer, reed warbler, mute swan, grebe, green woodpecker, greylag and Canada geese and sparrowhawk. Buzzards and red kites often soar over the open areas, hunting for prey.

Four-legged conservators

Our flock of rare-breed sheep, including mainly Hebridean, plus some Manx and Jacob, are helping to transform overgrown bramble scrub into open wood pasture within several fenced enclosures. They can also be found grazing on the marshland habitats.

In the late spring and summer, the forest plays host to two herds of Red Poll cattle – docile, with no horns and said to be ‘the East Anglian Breed’. You may see them grazing, as part of the Forest's 1,000-year history of continuous management. By grazing the open plains and mature coppices, they prevent areas growing up into young woodland, keeping a balance of habitats.

Sheep and cattle have different grazing habits so make the perfect complementary team.

Archaeology at Hatfield Forest

It's no surprise that an area as long associated with human activity as Hatfield Forest has many reminders of its past hidden in plain sight. See if you can find these archaeological remains as you explore.

The Rabbit Warren

The remains of a medieval rabbit warren, in the form of a series of ‘pillow’ mounds, can be found under the horse chestnut trees, south of Warren Cottage. Rabbits were introduced by the Normans and farmed for their meat and fur.

Portingbury Hills

Portingbury Hills is an earthwork in Beggarshall Coppice, made up of three circular mounds. Recent research suggests that the surviving banks and ditches are medieval. Iron Age pottery found here may also indicate earlier occupation. The earthworks are best seen on very dry summer evenings when the light perfectly picks them out.

Second World War remains

If you look carefully as you drive in through the first coppice, you can see the remains of concrete foundations and rusty legs of several huts. This part of the forest was used during the Second World War for the concealed storage of munitions for the nearby airfields.

The site of the Doodle Oak

This celebrated tree was one of the two stoutest trees ever measured in England, with a whopping circumference of 18.2m. It started to grow in about AD 950 and is mentioned in the Domesday Book. Leaves last grew in 1858, making it 908 years old when it died. Its location and circumference are marked with posts in hawthorn woodland just south of Elman's Green.

Does the Doodle Oak live on? A young oak tree, immediately north of the original Doodle Oak, is thought to have grown from an old root and has similar characteristics to its predecessor.