Before I review somewhere like Burnham Beeches I like to do a bit of research (mainly to see if it’s worth visiting or not!). I had heard some wonderful things about how pretty it is, particularly in the autumn. Worryingly I also read a lot about parking issues, which put me off visiting for a while. As I approached the car park there were traffic cones all over the local roads – not the best sign! I started thinking we might end up visiting by back-up (nearby Cliveden) after all!!
Pulling into the car park I was really surprised. It was practically empty. Bearing in mind, we visited Burnham Beeches on one of the few forecasted dry days in the summer holidays. I had expected it to be really busy. I genuinely don’t know if we just got lucky or if it’s actually always this quiet. If you’ve been before I’d love to know!
The wildlife
I’ll start with the wildlife as there’s so much of it here. Actually, Burnham Beeches is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, a National Nature Reserve AND a Special Area of Conservation. If it wasn’t for the City of London snapping it up in 1880 to stop a housing estate then it wouldn’t even be here.
The variety of wildlife here is unbelievable given that you’re just down the road from Slough. If you’re lucky you might get to spot cows, pigs, sheep or ponies grazing around the beeches! I think you might need to be relatively quiet in order to spot them. My family is many things, but it isn’t particularly quiet so we didn’t get to see any! What we did get to see is loads of ducks and other water birds, massive dragonflies and ants. So many ants. Really big ones. All over the place. Did I mention the ants??
Woodland walks
There are various woodland walks around Burnham Beeches, but I didn’t think that they’re very well sign posted. You can find a map here though if it helps. You can follow the sensory trail, which is about a mile and takes an hour apparently. Personally I think that’s nonsense! When we massively messed up on our visit to The Tower of London recently we had to walk 2.7 miles and did it in about an hour. Yes, we were walking as quick as possible with a 4 year old, but still that seems like snails pace.
We kind of did our own thing really, including parts of the sensory trail. We only found two of the sculptures before wandering away from the trail. The way we did walk looked very much like something out of a jurassic landscape. Any palaeontology experts out there would probably point out it can’t be because of the trees or something. I don’t care – we decided we were tracking dinosaurs!
Along the way we went past two massive ponds, a little raised walkway and some pretty amazing hollow trees. Despite the fact that we were on the main paths we hardly saw anyone else, which was lovely!
Our Burnham Beeches Review
I was really surprised at how quiet and peaceful it was when we visited Burnham Beeches. I really hope it wasn’t just a fluke, but I don’t know. In terms of facilities it is pretty rustic. There’s a small cafe and loos but that’s it. Quite probably that’s why it was quiet. I know a lot of people have been annoyed that places like Wendover Woods and Rushmere Country Park have put their prices us. This could be a good alternative.
Admission Cost
Free
Parking / How to get there
Parking – Monday – Friday, £1.50 up to 2 hours, £3 2 hours plus. Weekends/Bank holidays – £3 per day.
Address – Burnham Beeches Car Park, Slough SL2 3LB
Toilets
On-site, including baby change
Food
Cafe on-site which was pretty reasonably priced. Picnics allowed.
What’s nearby?
Cliveden is not far away at all. An alternative woodland walk is at either Black Park Country Park or Langley Country Park. Slightly further afield is Windsor Castle, Windsor Great Park and The Savill Garden.
I’m Vicky and I am a mum of three living in Aylesbury. I set up Free Time with the Kids to review free and cheap family days out in Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Oxfordshire, mainly because I kept forgetting all the fabulous places that were recommended to me!! I love getting out and about with the kids (and hubby of course) and we have adventures all over the place. My reviews tell you all the things you need to know about the family days out and activities we’ve done such as how much it costs, if there’s parking, toilets and if there’s a cafe or if picnics are allowed. I really hope you find the reviews helpful. If there’s anywhere that you’d recommend please get in touch contact@freetimewiththekids.com or get in touch via Facebook
