Epping Forest Golf & Country Club

Chigwell sits on the Essex side of Epping Forest, the ancient woodland that forms a green wedge between north-east London and the Essex countryside beyond the M11 and M25. The club takes its name from this forest, one of the largest areas of ancient woodland surviving so close to a capital city, once a royal hunting ground and now a protected Site of Special Scientific Interest managed by the City of London Corporation. Chigwell itself has long been one of the more sought-after Essex commuter villages bordering the forest, within reach of the Central line yet retaining a distinctly rural edge where the built-up suburbs give way to fields and woodland. Golfers here are within a short drive of both the forest's open rides and the built-up fringe of Redbridge and Woodford to the south. The club's setting places it firmly in that transitional belt of Essex where London's expansion has been checked by the forest's ancient protected status, a rare stretch of continuous green space on this side of the city.