Millook Valley Woods - Millook Valley, Poundstock nr Bude
Site Description
Consisting of four separate acquisitions forming contiguous woodland the Millook Valley (Trebarfoote, Tamps and Landy, Trengayor Copse and Crannow Coombe and Lundy Woods) occupies a large proportion of the valley that runs generally North - South from the A39 near Wainhouse Corner to the hamlet of Millook. Lying mainly on the western slopes and gills of the valley but with Trebarfoote on the eastern side the wood is generally inaccessible for large-scale management operations.
Access for management is only possible via 4 public footpaths that cross the site, although a track forming access to the private dwelling in the centre of the valley does allow vehicular access to a fairly 'central' point for management vehicles. As access is limited to these public footpaths public access will be provided by these. There is very little opportunity or need to enhance the amenity values beyond what is present as visitors are limited to a small number of locals who visit on a regular basis and occasional coastal path walkers who leave the long distance path and venture inland. Public access in itself does not therefore qualify as a key feature.
The wood comprises of predominantly Oak, much of stored coppice with a low percentage canopy level element of Ash, Sycamore. It also contains smaller areas of open ground colonising to bracken, bramble, gorse, thorn and sycamore and a number of large mature beech forming a large hedgerow in Trengayor the wood. It stretches from the higher drier slopes adjacent to agricultural land down to the wetter valley bottoms where streams flow down to the sea. There is also a small floristically rich meadow located centrally within the wood, which may have been grazed, in the past, by animals owned by the occupants of The Den. The areas of Trebarfoote Wood surrounding this meadow were historically open field with clumps of trees/hedgerow trees throughout and from 1870s to when WT took over the site had a history of grazing by stock. This grazing has latterly been of a sufficiently low intensity to allow natural regeneration from the original trees and hence the establishment of the woodland is it is now. In much of the rest of the valley the wood is designated ASNW and is valuable for conservation especially in relation to lower plants and lichens with populations of String of Sausages lichen and lungworts very common. Broadleaved Helleborine and Birds Nest Orchid are reported to be present in the ground flora, otters are known to frequent the water courses and various important species of bat have been seen foraging in the wood and meadow, but are not known to be roosting within the trust's property. Soils are generally rich loams over shellat on the slopes with increasing rooting depth towards the lower edges and wetter alluvial soils in the flatter bottoms adjacent to the streams.
Due to its sheltered deep coastal valley location its contribution to the landscape is only appreciated from adjacent headlands and high ground, but the whole valley, which includes other privately owned wood, offers one of the largest areas of woodland and probably the largest area of ASNW in the surrounding area. Due to its undisturbed history and location in a sparsely populated area of the north Cornish coast it offers visitors a sense of stepping back in time
