Northwich Community Woodlands
Coordinates: 53°15′50″N 2°33′18″W / 53.264°N 2.555°W
Northwich Woodlands (formerly Northwich Community Woodlands) is an area of 373 hectares of publicly accessible countryside to the north of Northwich in Cheshire, England. Much of the land was formerly industrial and used for mining salt and manufacturing chemicals. The extraction of salt caused subsidence leading to the formation of pools known as flashes. The land became derelict during the 20th century as the salt industry collapsed. Much of the area has now been reclaimed for the purposes of conservation and recreation and forms part of the Mersey Forest initiative.
Northwich Woodlands is made up a number of different sites: Marbury Country Park, Anderton Nature Park, Dairy House and Witton Mill Meadows, Uplands and Hopyard's Woods, Neumann's and Ashton's Flashes, Furey Woods and Carey Park.
In the north of the area beside Budworth Mere is Marbury Country Park. It was formerly a country estate owned by the Smith-Barry family but it became derelict and Marbury Hall was demolished in 1968. The site was reclaimed in 1975 and is now run as a country park by Cheshire West and Chester Council. An arboretum, ice-house and avenues of lime trees remain from former times. An area of ancient woodland known as Big Wood is important for wildlife with a variety of woodland birds including lesser spotted woodpecker.
...
Wikipedia