The countryside around the village has been described as "an area where the whole landscape is a piece of history—a valley where time has stood still and the pattern of woods and fields is much as it was 500 years ago". A designated ancient woodland lies to the north-west of the village. Predominantly centred on "Barrows Wood" but also including "High Wood" and "Trundle Wood", this is likely a remnant of the woodland described by Hasted: "... at the northern boundary of the parish there is a considerable quantity of wood, consisting mostly of hazel and oak, with numbers of trees of the latter, interspersed among them, which are but small, never here growing to any size." An ancient track that passes through the remnants of this woodland has been damaged by the use of off-road vehicles leading to attempts by local landowners to block "Drake Lane", a byway that runs through "Drake Lane Wood" in the south-west of the parish and which may have been used by recruits of Sir Francis Drake's navy. Deep water-logged ruts in the track have resulted in the partial resurfacing of the route.