Explore Bourne Wood

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A promontary above a large heathland clearing offers an impressive view over the surrounding pine forests.
There are also other attractive areas of heathland, interspersed with silver birch and pine trees creating a more mature heathland habitat.
The sandy soil provides a good walking surface, allowing access to many of the tracks and public footpaths throughout the year.

The Bourne Wood is strategically important to the UK film industry as a filming location. Since 1999 numerous films, commercials, television programmes and music videos have been filmed here.

Filming activity at Bourne Wood is important to the local economy and to the Forestry Commission, as it makes a significant contribution towards the cost of managing the Public Forest Estate.

The Forestry Commission has prepared a planning application which aims to regularise the current filming activity at Bourne Wood.

The Forestry Commission is not trying to intensify filming use at Bourne Wood or create permanent structures / buildings on the land.  The application aims to regularise the current position and is suitably flexible to ensure that an appropriate level of filming activity can continue on site without having to re-apply for planning permission on every occasion or the process being so long that film companies decide to film abroad.

The Forestry Commission has consulted widely on this issue in order to balance the commercial, environmental and social demands of the site.  The feedback from the groups and individuals who have commented to us, along with the information contained in an Environmental Statement, has led us to modify our original proposals. 

The full planning application can be viewed on the Waverley Borough Council’s website. 

The non-technical summary can be accessed here.

If you are interested in being kept updated with the Forestry Commission’s planning application to use The Bourne Woods for filming:

Send us your contact details to: enquiries.southern@forestry.gsi.gov.uk with the message title: ‘Bourne Filming’ and we will add you to our database, ensuring that we send you any updates.