Horse riding at Bramshill Plantation

Bramshill SPA (part of the wider Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area) is considered special because of its international importance for wildlife, especially rare and vulnerable birds and rich freshwater and heathland habitats.

Due to the designation of Bramshill, Warren Heath and Heath Warren as a site of high conservation value, we have been required to issue permits for those wishing to horse ride in the area. This requirement was set under our Habitats Regulation Assessment (HRA) agreed with Natural England and designed to help protect this special site. 

Historically these permits were managed through TROT (Toll Rides Off-Road Trust) until May 2025 when these were managed directly by Forestry England. Within the first few weeks of taking over these permits, we issued an unprecedented 250 free permits to horse riders provided on a first come first served basis. This is the maximum number of permits we were able to issue to comply with the HRA and unfortunately were not able to accommodate further requests for this year. We realise this was unsatisfactory for those who were unable to secure a permit last year. 

We have been working hard to find a solution that caters for the level of demand but also still ensures there is no impact from horse riding activity on the designated landscape. We have reviewed the activity under a revised habitat regulation assessment with additional mitigation in place to be able to move to a revised permissive network of trails.

We are therefore pleased to announce that horse riding in Bramshill, Warren Heath and Heath Warren will no longer require a permit from 1 May 2026, as long as the permissive routes are being adhered to. These routes have been selected to balance minimising disturbance to more sensitive areas whilst still providing a positive riding experience.

Horse riding on the existing public right of way bridleways will not be affected by these changes. Commercial activity or carriage drivers requiring barrier access will still need to apply for a permission via southern.permissions@forestryengland.uk

We will continue to monitor and review the impact of activity to ensure success of this scheme and no negative impacts to the sites special features are noted. Routes may be subject to change depending on operational and other needs and we ask people to look out for signage and maps on site from 1 May 2026.

For further information please visit https://www.forestryengland.uk/activities/horse-riding