Windlesham Arboretum

Windlesham Arboretum
Location in Surrey
Type	Arboretum
Location	Windlesham, Surrey
Coordinates	51°21′18″N 0°40′21″W / 51.35500°N 0.67250°W / 51.35500; -0.67250
Area	1 km2 (0.39 sq mi)
Operated by	The Spowers Charitable Trust

Windlesham Arboretum is between the villages of Windlesham and Lightwater in Surrey, United Kingdom, just south of Junction 3 on the M3. The arboretum features lakes, monuments, follies, a small chapel and approximately 22,000 mature and rare trees. The Windle Brook runs through the arboretum and has seven main footbridges and approximately ten ponds on each side, some of which are more properly identifiable as lakes based on size. The land and lakes, including a scattered number of buildings altogether consist of just over 1 square kilometre (0.39 sq mi).

The arboretum, which is also a fresh water park, is located in the south of the civil parish of Windlesham, where alluvial soils juxtapose, furthest from the brook, with acidic, naturally wet, heath.^[1]

The arboretum was founded in the 1980s by William Spowers, who had purchased Old House Farm and the surrounding 17 acres (6.9 ha) in 1957. Over the following decades, he added more land to the estate, which reached 160 acres (65 ha) by the time of his death in 2009. By the end of the first decade of the 21st century, the arboretum contained in excess of 3,500 species of tree, including an extensive collection of Eucalyptus plants.^[2]

The arboretum is owned by a charitable trust.^[3] The objects of the charitable trust are to advance education in the study of trees and birds^[4] and access to the arboretum is restricted to educational activities. The public is permitted limited access from four main entry points, spread around the compass, during daylight hours. Picnics, barbecues, cycling and leisure activities other than walking, study and reflection are prohibited. It is patrolled most days, and maintained to ensure its use remains in accordance with the trust's objectives.

An archeological survey of the Arboretum was carried out by the Surrey Heath Archaeological & Heritage Trust. in the 1980s. Evidence of Iron Age enclosure ditches and Romano-British agricultural buildings was discovered.^[5]

• Satellite image of Windlesham Arboretum

Media related to Windlesham arboretum at Wikimedia Commons