Woodland Walk is a wooded nature reserve on the boundary between Boscombe and Pokesdown. For walkers it offers a green route away from traffic, climbing from Christchurch Road to Boscombe Overcliff Drive and the clifftop above the beach. Locals have used it as a quiet short cut for years; since a 2025-26 refurbishment it has become one of Boscombe's proper green attractions in its own right.
The 2025-26 works
Money for the project came from two sources: £185,000 from the Towns Fund and £95,000 from the Community Infrastructure Levy, routed via the Boscombe and Pokesdown Neighbourhood Forum. That is roughly £280,000 altogether, spread over some 65 separate improvements. The gateway stonework was restored, paths were resurfaced and lighting improved, and the reserve also gained a raised wildlife pond, a sensory garden, new wildflowers and native trees, and boxes for birds and bats, one of which has a camera inside. Much of the volunteer planting and maintenance has been organised by the Parks Foundation.
Tom Harvey's carvings
The addition most people notice is the trail of wildlife sculptures by chainsaw artist Tom Harvey, all shaped from wind-fallen timber gathered within the reserve. His Tree of Life was cut from an oak around 120 years old; elsewhere there are a woodpecker, a wood mouse, a peacock butterfly, a stag beetle and a woodlouse, and a carved welcome marker stands close to the southern entrance.
Practical details
Access is free and unrestricted, and you can walk through at any hour. The reserve itself has no facilities, though Boscombe's high street lies a few minutes one way and the seafront a few minutes the other.
Read more about the individual carvings, the Peacock Butterfly, the Tree of Life and the Wood Mouse, or look through our guide to things to do in Bournemouth for more in the area.
