The site was previously a park for Norman House. It is woodland on a sandy and gravel soil, with meadows and six man-made ponds. Grassland plants include cowslips, wild strawberries and common spotted orchids. There are birds such as nuthatches and woodpeckers, and many species of butterfly. Black poplars, which are the county's rarest native tree, have been planted to replace trees lost to storm damage.[1]