Melton Wood Country Park

The rolling countryside around Melton Wood is ideal for cycling, with several routes taking in bridle paths, country lanes and short stretches of main road.

Melton Wood was part of a vast, broad leaved forest. Bronze Age people began to clear the surrounding land about 3000 years ago to farm the rich, free-draining soils. They were followed by the Romans, Saxons, then generations of English settlers up to the present day.

Historically, Melton Wood was a typically English mature oak woodland with ash, elm, birch, wild cherry, lime, crab, and field maple. In 1927 the then owner Fredrick Montagu sold the oak and ash timber crop. This altered the character of the woodland dramatically. More changes occurred during the Second World War to help with the war effort, as many more mature trees were chopped down by inmates from HM Prison Wakefield and prisoners-of-war.

Scrub clearance and replanting began in 1956 when the Forestry Commission purchased a 999 year lease from the National Coal Board. A combination of broad-leaved and coniferous trees was planted over the next decade, creating the attractive mixed woodland we see today.

Doncaster Council purchased the freehold of Melton Wood in 1992, to protect public access and to conserve the woodland.