Home (Last updated 15/01/21))


Welcome to the Pepper Wood website
 
COVID-19 Lockdown and its Impact

For the foreseeable future, all working parties are suspended, and will remain so until HMG restrictions and the Woodland Trust allow them to resume. Until then, we will maintain a watch on the wood, with visits by  single volunteers a number of times a week to keep footpaths open and litter levels low. 

At present we are unable to supply our usual range of products. The materials are available, but we cannot get at them! 

In normal times, we work every Sunday and Wednesday from about 10 am,  until 1:30 pm. All shapes and sizes of people are welcome, although we do require that children are accompanied by a responsible adult. We particularly welcome young people working for the Duke of Edinburgh scheme. .

All tools are provided at work parties, and all you will need is: Clothes to protect you from the elements and rogue plants such bramble and dog rose, strong shoes or boots, something to drink, and a sense of humour. The last of these is essential!! A lot of Mickey-taking goes on at work parties.

An essential ritual of all work parties is the cake  and coffee break. In colder months this is held around a brazier on which coffee is roasted and brewed.

No experience or specific skills are assumed; a lot of the work is scaled-up gardening.

To get to Pepper Wood:

Unfortunately there are no buses on Sundays, and very few throughout the week. From J4 of the M5 take the A491 towards Stourbridge, and at the  first roundabout take the first exit towards Fairfield. Drive past the village shop on right, and the church on left. At the mini-roundabout, turn right on to Bournheath Rd, which becomes Brook Rd after fifty yards. Follow Brook Rd for about half a mile, and descend a short steep hill to a T-junction with Dordale Rd. Here turn right. The entrance to the wood is on the right after about 300 yards. If you pass a house on the left, you have just missed it!

On entering the car park, turn right through a large green gate, with a wood-clad shed ahead of you. You have now arrived. Please note that this applies only to volunteers. Non-working visitors should use the main car park or the hard standing by the entrance. The large green gate is locked after the last volunteer has left!

Please note that the hill approaching Dordale Rd can be extremely treacherous in frosty conditions, and should be descended at a crawl and minimal use of brakes. In normal conditions it is perfectly safe.