Short Walk at Pigney's Wood

We were heading over to this area of North Norfolk to run some errands before heading to the coast, so I decided to see if there was somewhere in the area were we hadn’t been before. That’s when I spotted Pigney’s Wood on the map.

Pigney’s Wood is located not far from North Walsham town centre and was established in 1993 by the North Norfolk Community Woodland Trust in 1993, and in 2007 the Norfolk Wildlife Trust took over management of the reserve.

Prior to a walk we will either have a planned out route or just explore and see where that takes us, and I think it’s fair to say the latter was a good course of action with Pigney’s Wood. There are several way-marked circular trails but it was such a lovely place to explore that we just went with the flow along whichever path took our fancy, though always keeping in mind a way back to the car park!

What can you see? – Well, to start with there are lots of trees, including silver birch, sweet chestnut, spindle, ash, alder, hawthorn, oak, willow, scot’s pine, holly, hazel, blackthorn, poplar, sycamore, beech, and horse chestnut amongst the 40+ species of trees. There are lots of birds to look out for too, including blackcap, bearded tit, green woodpecker, tree creeper, nuthatch, goldcrest, and egrets. Then there’s insects such as various type of dragonflies and butterflies, and, finally, you may be lucky enough to see mammals such as otters, water voles, stoats, foxes and red deer. Badgers are known to live in the woods too.

Okay, let’s get in to it shall we? First up is a picture taken at the entrance to the car park. The car park is on Hall Lane, which is a narrow (i.e. only wide enough for single lane of traffic) road. We have more thoughts on this towards the end of the article.

From the car par there are two ways to go. The route we took leads straight through this woodland path.

We then turned off to the right, still in the wood but passing close to an open field. That field isn’t part of the reserve so we haven’t included photos of it but it’s important to mention so you don’t trespass. Through the trees we spotted a deer along the edge of the field. As we continued on the path towards this area of gorse, below, we could here the deer on the other side of the vegetation that separated the nature reserve and the field.

If you don’t look down every so often you’ll miss something special, like these cowslips.

There are a few steeper slopes on the path, including sections that have steps, such as this pictured below.

What a lovely place to stop and enjoy the view.

Paston Way runs along near the rear of Pigney’s Wood. It can be accessed from the reserve, ideally via the steps or go through under the bridge rather than scrambling up this embankment. Paston Way follows the track bed of the disused Norfolk and Suffolk Joint Railway Company, which linked North Walsham to Cromer.

The barn shelter below provides information on some of the species you might see at Pigney’s Wood.

There are reedbeds and small ponds such as the one below

We were able to jump over this muddy puddle, otherwise we might’ve turned back and go a different route.

Finding the North Walsham and Dilham Canal running alongside Pigney’s Wood was a pleasant surprise. This is no longer used as a canal, but it is very much alive.

We spotted what I think may have been an egret around this area, however, I was unable to get it on camera.

Heading back in to the woods, below.

Towards the end of our walk we spot this information board – might’ve been handy to look at this before starting our walk, though we did mention earlier you could start your walk in this direction.

Pigney’s Wood is certainly a unique nature reserve, providing welcome habitats for many species and giving us a pleasant environment to enjoy a stroll. It’s somewhere we will visit again for another walk, possibly as part of a longer walk from North Walsham.

A note on getting there – Whilst this was a most enjoyable walk, it would be remiss of us not to mention the route to the car park. When planning a trip out I normally go online and look at a map of the area to get a general idea, and to check the parking too. I did this for this day out too, but I forgot one small detail – Street view. Had I dropped the “street view” icon on the map at the car park I would’ve seen that the road (Hall Lane) that the reserve was off happened to be a long single country lane with few pull-in places.

Indeed, the nearby Little London St the Sat Nav suggested might’ve been a quicker route to Hall Lane for us, but it is also single lane. We missed Little London St on our way there, but turned down it on our way back – only to have to carefully reverse along it for about 100 metres to the Bacton Road as a dustbin lorry came towards us! Many of the roads criss-crossing this area are single lanes (the road we were directed down from the B1145 to get to Hall Lane didn’t even have a name!)

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and a few minutes thoroughly planning any journey you’re unfamiliar with is a must. So, with that said, probably the best way to get to Pigney’s Wood car park would be to plan a route to Bacton Road/North Walsham Road that avoids the single lanes, and then hope the 1-mile distance along Hall Lane (unavoidable single lane) from this side doesn’t have on-coming traffic! However, as we’ve mentioned above, the Paston Way trail connects to the woods, so you could walk along this route from North Walsham town to Pigney’s Wood – that’s our plan for next time. You live and learn!

Field Notes

FACILITIES – There are no facilities at Pigney’s Wood. The nearest facilities are in North Walsham town centre.

DOGS – Dogs are allowed but must be kept on a lead.

SAFETY – There are potential trip hazards such as roots, areas of open water (particularly along the canal) and steep banks.

WHEELCHAIRS – Some of the paths are suitable for wheelchairs, however, there are some rougher tracks that may be unpassable and a bit hilly, there’s the odd step on some gradients, and the paths can get a bit muddy in wet weather.

CLOBBER –We wore trainers and were fine. However, there were a few boggy bits requiring the ability to jump over, so if it’s rained recently wellies or at least walking boots might be an idea!

DISTANCE AND DURATION – Our walk was approximately 1.6 miles and we were there for 1.5 hours as we took it all at a leisurely pace. You could also walk a shorter distance in the woods, and you can easily extend your walk taking different paths around Pigney’s Wood or even connecting on to the Paston Way (a 22 mile walk between North Walsham and Cromer) and enjoy a longer stroll by doing a bit of that route.