Car parking charges at forest car park, Cowleaze Wood.
Forestry England will soon be introducing car parking charges at forest car park, Cowleaze Wood.
Published: 21 August 2025
Background
Visitors and residents may be aware Cowleaze Wood is part of a working forest. Forestry England encourages public access for recreation with the car park, 51 Squadron Monument, memorial trail, picnic area and bluebells. We’re proud to manage Cowleaze for people to enjoy, for wildlife to flourish, and as a sustainable source of timber for the local economy.
Forestry England receives less than 10% of our funding from government, so we generate most of our income through trading activities, including timber production and car parking. As a public body, we reinvest the money we make into looking after the nation’s forests, supporting everything from tree planting and biodiversity projects, to trails, car parks, and benches.
What’s happening now
Since we created the car park at Cowleaze Wood, it has been free of charge. But, like all businesses, our costs continue to rise. This includes services like surface repairs, trail maintenance, and vegetation management. It is no longer sustainable for us to maintain the car park for free.
Modest car parking charges will help us to continue looking after Cowleaze Wood for everyone to enjoy.
Charges and payment methods
We expect that parking charges will come into effect this autumn, but we can’t yet confirm an exact date.
The charges will be:
| Up to 2 hours | Up to 4 hours | Up to 8 hours | 24 hours |
| £1.80 | £2.50 | £3.00 | £8 |
Visitors will be able to pay by using one of the pay machines in the car park, using card, contactless or RingGo.
Alternatives to paying for parking
For regular visitors to Cowleaze Wood, we recommend Forestry England membership. This provides a year of unlimited parking at Cowleaze Wood and dozens of other Forestry England sites for £94 per household, which equates to less than £2 per week: https://www.forestryengland.uk/membership
Visitors are also welcome at any of our public forests or woodlands that don’t have parking charges.
Who will manage the car park?
Cowleaze Wood car park is owned and managed by Forestry England. It will continue to be managed under Forestry England’s parking terms & conditions, which include adherence to the Highway Code and parking appropriately: https://www.forestryengland.uk/parking
We hope this information is useful. Please direct any questions or enquiries to chilterns@forestryengland.uk to ensure that they receive a timely response from our team.
Yours sincerely,
Katie Stapleton
Katie Stapleton (she/ her)
Operations Manager
Wendover Woods
Forestry England